An Alternate History
by Warriorsz
Summary: What if Mavis actually became an active member of Fairy Tail after Oracion Seis? What if she was sealed away by Zeref? Eventual pairings, though I don't want to spoil the story by pointing out all of them. Navis is the only one that is obvious right off the bat; it'd be best not to assume others at the beginning. Rated M for possible future content and to be safe. More info inside.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: First and foremost, writing is not something I commonly do. It's more of a hobby than anything, so I doubt my storytelling is exactly the most polished out of all the writers on this forum; however, I hope that people at least find this story both entertaining and appealing. The story is set not long after the Oración Seis arc (about a week), and I plan to have quite a different take on events after it than the manga/anime, though elements from them will certainly (perhaps inevitably) come into play. Also, some ground rules about Mavis: I assume that Mavis was twenty when she became immortal, so that is her age in this fiction. Either imagine her appearance to be different or don't; the story will be written as though her appearance is no different than in the anime/manga (with the exception of her dress, which will be addressed as "white" rather than the very light pink it is in the anime/manga). In case it isn't obvious enough from reading the story, Mavis is still alive because she is immortal due to glimpsing the One Magic, and she is trapped in a seal created by Zeref. This fiction assumes that Mavis and Zeref battled one another at some point in the past, and Zeref came very close to losing, so he sealed Mavis away due to his inability to escape from or defeat her. Also, there _are_ some made-up towns in here. This is to make Fiore feel a bit less empty. (Take a look at the map of Fiore on the wiki to reference what I'm saying here, if you so wish.) This fiction also assumes that trains travel at roughly ten miles per hour, and that Fiore is roughly four-to-five hundred miles from East to West (or vice-versa, of course). On a final note, I will update this when I have time. I will not ever promise an update schedule; life is hectic sometimes, and at others, I honestly just want to do something besides writing. I expect the readers of this story to respect both my decision and honesty on this matter, just as I would theirs.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, nor am I in any way affiliated with its creation or distribution. I am simply a fan who wishes to present a different take on events than the canon series.

Four figures trotted along the beaten path in the foothills of mountains larger than they'd ever seen, all from the same guild. A fifth figure, also from the same guild, could be seen hovering alongside a pink-haired man. These five figures were Erza, Natsu, Happy, Lucy, and Gray, and they were all looking ahead of them, a headwind coming down from the mountain and into the valley, chilling them slightly. The only one who seemed comfortable in the chilly weather was Gray, who had incidentally taken off his shirt yet again. He didn't realize it, but his shirt was about two miles up a river they had passed about an hour ago at that very moment.

"How much longer is it gonna be until we get there?" Natsu asked in a rather whiny manner, causing the redheaded night to look at him in slight annoyance.

"Natsu, you forfeited the right to complain when you refused to take the train. If we'd have done that, this trip wouldn't have taken nearly as long!"

"But Erza, you know how I get when I ride trains." said Natsu, his face developing a rather unhealthy shade of green at the prospect of again confronting his archenemy: transportation. "Besides, we had to ride trains for almost a week and a half just to get here!"

Natsu spoke in earnest. Their quest had taken them quite far from Magnolia; they were currently treading in the northwestern, mountainous portion of Fiore, which, despite the oncoming spring, was still chilly due to both its elevation and its more northern orientation on Earth Land.

"Natsu doesn't look so good . . . ." said the Dragon Slayer's best friend, Happy, who seemed to be amused at watching Natsu get closer and closer to being pummeled by Erza.

"I gotta say, though," said Gray, "the flamebrain has a point. I didn't think it'd take us this long to get there. The village was supposed to be just a few miles away from the barrow. We've been walking for hours."

Lucy nodded her agreement. "I didn't think it'd take us this long to reach the base of the mountain. It's really a testament to how crazy the terrain is around here."

Erza, as well as the rest of the group, stayed silent (save the occasional squabbling between Natsu and Gray) for the next half hour, when they finally topped a particularly large hill, and the barrow for which they were searching was in their sight. Their mission was to go into the ruins of the ancient burial site to investigate the rumors concerning a dark guild in the area. Specifically, they were investigating a sect of Naked Mummy that was supposedly using the barrow as a de facto base of operations. The reward was over six hundred thousand jewels, which was a rather hefty sum for the job, all things considered. Lucy insisted on doing the job when she realized that she could pay her monthly rent with a single mission's reward.

The five wizards snuck into the decrepit ruins, each one barely making a sound as they made their way down the rather narrow staircase. All of them (with the exception of Gray, of course) felt the cold slowly seep into their bones as they ventured deeper into the darkness of the crypt.

"Shh!" Erza said, putting her index finger to her lips as she heard what sounded like a distant voice resounding on the ancient stone walls. This proved to be a wise decision as two people engaged in discourse passed them a short time later, their presence going unnoticed in the inky shadows.

Soon enough, they arrived at the main chamber. In true Natsu fashion, he burst through the steel door with searing flames, only to be met with the shocked gazes of about fifty or so Naked Mummy wizards.

"C-crap! It's Fairy Tail, and they've got Titania and Salamander with them! Everybody run!" The guild members attempted to escape further into the crypt, but they failed miserably as steel, flame, ice, and wool met flesh.

A short while later, the five figures could be seen emerging from the barrow, all wearing smiles that betrayed their sense of satisfaction that their job had gone so well.

"You know," said Natsu, "I'm glad this went well and all, but . . . now we have to walk all the way back."

Erza smiled evilly, "Not so fast, Natsu . . . there's a train station with a train back to the village about a mile away from here."

Natsu's face turned green at the outset of her dialogue. "Why, Erza? Why?" he pleaded.

"Because none of us feel like walking all the way back to the village. Plus it's getting late as it is."

They arrived at the train station by sunset and had to wait only a few minutes for the last train to Karwood (the village in which the client resided). In a matter of moments, Natsu was on the verge of throwing up. As usual, Erza let him put his head in her lap before subsequently knocking him unconscious. She sighed as she took a brief glance out the train window as the vehicle departed from the station. Just before the train had passed the train station, she thought she saw a short blonde woman with long, flowing hair, small wings on the sides of her head, and a small smile on her face. She blinked and the woman was suddenly gone, and Erza briefly wondered if she was hallucinating. She shook her head. Gray and Lucy noticed this but did not comment on it, mostly because the two of them were worn out from the day's events. Even Happy was snoring softly. In fact, Erza was the only one who wasn't tired, mostly because she was a more hardened warrior than all the others on the train.

_Who on Earth Land was that girl?_ Erza wondered. _I'm sure I saw someone there. Maybe fate will decide that we will meet again._

At Fairy Tail, at the same time

Makarov was finishing organizing some books. He rarely had the chance to do so since the guild would often descend into chaos and general shenanigans when he wasn't around for a while, but it decidedly happened quite a lot less when Team Natsu was out on a mission. He just hoped he wouldn't have to deal with another destroyed town and tens of thousands of jewels worth of property damage. That team was one of the best in the guild, he realized, but its members certainly had some of the most reckless and destructive tendencies out of everyone in the guild, especially Natsu.

As Makarov put the stepladder back into the closet, he heard a feminine voice say "It's been a long time, ne, Sandaime?"

His eyes widened as he turned to face Mavis. "M-Mavis! What are you doing here? I thought it'd be a much longer time since I'd hear from you again."

The woman in question simply smiled, "I've recovered my power more quickly than I anticipated. However, this is just a thought projection. I'm still caught in Zeref's seal."

"Any luck on finding a way around it?" Makarov asked, clearly bothered by the fact that the genius woman in front of him had still been unable to escape.

She shook her head in the negative. "Makarov, I believe the only way for me to escape this seal is for Zeref to be killed. The key to the seal is his life force. He wants to die, and he tried to release me himself, but not even _he_ can undo it. He says his last hope is a member of this guild."

Makarov looked away. "Natsu . . ."

Mavis nodded. "I went by the train station they were at earlier." She laughed a little. "It looked like he was having some trouble with the train."

"That boy has a problem with transportation in general." Makarov sighed.

"I wonder why Dragon Slayers all get such violent motion sickness . . ." Mavis trailed off.

Makarov looked at her, wide-eyed. "You mean _all_ Dragon Slayers get motion sickness?"

Mavis nodded. "I've never met a single Dragon Slayer who _didn't_ get violently sick from transportation. But anyway, Makarov, I'm sure you've noticed by now."

He nodded. "Yes, this thought projection packs quite a lot of punch, easily that of an S-class mage."

"Yes." Mavis looked Makarov in the eyes. "I want to officially rejoin the guild."

Makarov's eyes widened. "Y-you think you're ready for that big of a step?"

"I do. I want to participate in the guild again. Plus," she said, mischief shining in her green eyes, "it'll be pretty funny to tell everyone that I'm back after four hundred years, don't you think?"

Makarov smiled. "You never change, Mavis. Well, I think it's only appropriate that you become the guild master again."

Mavis laughed. "No thanks, Macky. I don't want to have to worry about dealing with property damage again, and with those four, I think it's all the better."

Makarov sweat dropped anime style. That's_ why she doesn't want to become the guild master again?_

Mavis giggled slightly at his exasperated expression. "It's also because I honestly don't have the power to be the guild master right now. I'm about as strong as Erza as things stand now, but I wouldn't bet on me beating her in a match."

Makarov raised a brow. "I take it you've been watching as things have been progressing over the years?"

She nodded lightly. "I've dropped by every now and again, though I watched a lot of the Oración Seis incident. Natsu . . . that boy shows more promise than even Zeref realizes."

Makarov grinned. "That boy gives everyone hope, even in their darkest hours. He's really something else."

Mavis smiled. "And that's why I want to be on his team."

Makarov nearly choked on the coffee he was drinking. "_What_?!"

"You know he's the only one in this world with enough potential to defeat Zeref, Makarov." said the Fairy Tactician, turning serious. "Even though his abilities are latent now, they won't be forever. I want to be on his team to ensure that nothing prevents him from being able to unlock all of his potential and rid this world of Zeref once and for all."

Makarov nodded. "Understood. It just caught me off guard. By the way, what about you, first master . . .?"

"Me?" She laughed. "I am at peace with my immortality, Makarov. It's the price one pays for catching even a glimpse of the true One Magic. I was prepared to pay that price as soon as I learned of it. Zeref thought he was as well, I imagine, but he was apparently wrong. I just hope Natsu is prepared for it when he releases all of his latent ability."

"Well, I'll add you to our guild roster officially tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm sure you need rest, so feel free to sleep in one of the beds here in the guild hall. We normally reserve them for guests, but since there aren't any here to speak of, feel free to use them."

"Alright Macky. See ya in the morning."

"Wait . . ." said Makarov, turning to her. "You're a thought projection . . . do you even _need_ to sleep?"

She nodded. "While my actual body is in the seal, it's unchanging, but my thought projection needs rest and sustenance, just like any normal person. This is because it functions as a normal physical entity."

Makarov nodded as she left the room. By that time, all the other Fairy Tail members had left the guild building, meaning they wouldn't see Mavis for a while. Makarov simply stared straight ahead for a moment before sighing. _Things can never stay the same . . . hehe. I remember when Natsu was still a little squirt. I didn't realize it until now, but . . . well, you've really grown up, haven't you, Natsu?_ The old man smiled before heading towards his room.

With Team Natsu, two hours later

"Thank God that's finally over!" Natsu exclaimed as he hopped off the train enthusiastically. He had woken up shortly before the train reached the station.

"How can he be so full of energy?" Happy wondered aloud as he floated tiredly behind Erza, Gray, and Lucy, who stepped off the train about a minute after Natsu's proclamation.

"Well, he _did_ get to nap for about an hour." Gray said, smirking slightly at the pink-haired man.

"I don't know if I'd call it a nap, exactly . . ." said Lucy, smiling tiredly and enjoying the banter.

"Hey, Erza," Gray said, shifting his attention to the knight, "what were you thinking about on the train? You looked out the window and then just kinda went blank."

Lucy looked at her expectantly while Natsu and Happy looked at her with a small measure of surprise. It was rare that Erza ever lost her focus, even when she wasn't in battle. She smiled. "It was nothing. I thought I saw a girl, but then she disappeared. I think I just imagined it, to be honest."

With that, they all let the topic go and proceeded to banter as they stopped by a restaurant before going to their room. They all agreed to talk to the client the next day, as they were sure he was in bed by then. However, as usual, pandemonium followed after Gray and Natsu got into a pillow fight. Perhaps "pandemonium" is not even accurate enough to describe the chaos, for even the capital of Hell and all the demons and devils contained therein would surely shudder at the sheer level of destruction caused by this seemingly innocent action. Even Satan and Beelzebub would have a hard time handling the harbinger of destruction. For after Gray threw the fated pillow, Natsu dodged the fated dodge, and the Fairy Queen took the pillow in the face. Outrage marred her features, and the pillow fight that followed utterly demolished the inn, which would no doubt cause the Third grief to no end. Luckily enough for the warriors, the inn had good insurance, and so it would only cost fifty thousand jewels of the pay rather than the full million the inn was actually worth.

In Magnolia, about a week and a half later

"Alright! We're finally back!" Natsu said as he walked toward the guild.

Erza, Gray, Lucy, and Happy all smiled at their comrade's exuberance. _You never change, do you, Natsu?_ they thought in unison.

"Natsuuuuuuuu," said Happy, "let's catch some fish after this! I'm starving!"

Natsu looked at his blue best friend, grinning. "No problem, pal! I'm not much better off."

They all walked through the doors of the guild, only to see a giant fist coming at them, sending them flying back through said doors and into a building nearby. Everyone in the guild started laughing as the five members floated down much like paper from being flattened against the wall.

"Ne, Sandaime, I think you might have gone overboard . . ." said Mavis with a hint of amusement in her voice. She was sitting on the bar at the back of the room.

"Nah, they're fine." said Makarov as he retracted his fist and took a sip of ale.

"H-hai . . ." said Wendy as she rubbed the back of her head. Carla sat in silence.

"Gray-sama . . ." said Juvia worriedly.

The came back into the guild a couple of minutes later. Erza's eyes landed on Mavis, and her eyes widened. "Y-you're . . .!"

Mavis nodded. "Yes, you saw me at the train station, Erza-san."

"Huh?" said Natsu. "Master, who is she?"

"She is the first guild master of Fairy Tail, Mavis Vermilion."

Their jaws dropped. Natsu was the first to recover as he ran up to her and yelled, "First guild master, huh? Fight me!"

Mavis reached out an arm above Natsu. He looked it curiously before it came down on top of his head and smashed him into the floor. "O-ow . . ." he said, out of it for the moment.

"One hit?" said Gray, Lucy, Happy, and Erza in a disappointed tone simultaneously.

Mavis giggled. "My strength isn't nearly what it used to be, but it's more than enough to beat you, ne, Natsu-san?"

Natsu immediately rebounded, pointing at her and yelling. "You won't get away with that!"

Makarov sighed, sensing a huge fight about to break out. "Okay, everyone, please be calm. Now, Natsu, Erza, Gray, Lucy, Mavis has something to discuss with all of you."

They all looked towards the blonde woman in curiosity. "I will be joining Fairy Tail as a member of your team, if that's okay with you all."

Lucy and Gray just looked on in shock. Erza bowed deeply, "It would be an honor to have you with us, Shodaime-sama."

"Please, just call me Mavis." she said, laughing lightly.

"Hell yeah!" screamed Natsu. "Now our team's gonna kick even more ass than before!"

About an hour (and a massive brawl between guild members sparked by Gray accidentally sticking his elbow in Erza's cake) later, most of the guild members had already left, including Erza, Lucy, and Gray.

Happy's stomach growled rather loudly, causing Natsu and Mavis to laugh. "See ya later Master! See ya Mavis-san! We're going fishing!"

Mavis smiled. "Bye Natsu-san! Don't get eaten by a giant fish!"

"I'll try not to!" he yelled back, amused.

Mavis watched as the Dragon Slayer and his Exceed companion left the hall, a small smile on her face. Makarov looked at her. "You seem fond of him, Mavis."

"He has a good heart, Macky. I can tell. Besides," she laughed, "his audacity and sheer boisterousness know no bounds. He challenged me as soon as he found out I was the first guild master. He's practically the embodiment of the spirit of Fairy Tail."

Makarov looked at her in surprise. Despite her great kindness, he never knew her to dole out such praise to anyone. _I wonder if . . . nah, I'm just over thinking things._

Three days later, in the guild building

"I'm so bored!" yelled Natsu, fed up with just sitting in the guild all day. Erza, Gray, and even Wendy were all out on jobs, and Lucy said she wasn't up to another job so soon after coming back from the one a few days ago, though Natsu highly suspected that she also didn't want to go on another job simply because she already had her rent for the month paid.

"Natsu-san, why don't we go on a job together?" asked Mavis, who was walking over towards him.

"Ooooh, good idea, Mavis-san!" Natsu said happily. "Did you have a job in mind?"

"Yup!" she said, her eyes shining brightly. "This one!"

She showed Natsu the poster, which had the details of the job on it. Apparently, a group of bandits was terrorizing a town named Lorshire in southwest Fiore. The reward made Natsu's eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. "Over three hundred thousand jewels just to defeat a group of bandits? Count me in!"

Mavis smiled. "I knew you'd be in! Now all we have to do is show it to Macky and we can go." She heard Natsu snort in a miserably attempt to suppress a laugh. "What?" she asked, clearly amused.

"Macky? _Macky_?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Natsu roared with laughter, making the woman smile at his amusement with her nickname of the third guild master.

"I didn't think it was _that _funny . . ." she smiled, nonetheless enjoying Natsu's apparent amusement at the situation. She then saw that Makarov was looking their way inquisitively, and she put a hand over his mouth. "Shhh! He's looking."

Natsu immediately stopped laughing as they approached the old man. "What was so funny?" asked Makarov.

"Nothing of importance, Sandaime." Mavis smiled. "We'd like to take this mission."

Upon seeing the job, Makarov nodded his approval, and the duo exited the guild. About five minutes after they'd left the building, Natsu abruptly roared with laughter once more, attracting some looks as they walked down the road. Mavis looked over at him, bemused.

"What is it now?" she asked.

Natsu looked over at her, his face screwed up into the biggest grin she'd ever seen on a human being. "M-M . . . Macky! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

She shook her head, amazed that he'd held in his laughter for so long. She supposed he had practice, though, considering the fact that he had to contend with quickly changing his moods when Erza flew into a rage about them. She then decided to tease him a bit. She knew they would have to ride a lot of trains to get to Lorshire; similarly, she knew that Natsu was so nearsighted in matters like these that the notion of distance didn't even enter his mind. _Hey,_ she thought, _if I'm gonna be on his team, I might as well mess with him a bit, right?_

"Ne, Natsu-san, you're going to have a lot of fun riding all those trains to Lorshire, aren't you?" Mavis asked, a twinkle of mischief in her eyes.

Natsu then turned a pale shade of green. "Gods, why?"

Mavis giggled. "You'll be fine, Natsu."

The two boarded the train at Magnolia Station, and Natsu mentally prepared himself for a very long trip.

The Fairy Tactician looked at him, feeling somewhat guilty about her decision to travel such a long way. _Maybe I went a bit overboard . . ._ _._ She sighed internally. "Natsu, sit right here." she said, patting the spot next to her.

Natsu cautiously obliged, sitting down next to her nervously. He clearly feared something, thought what exactly that was she couldn't quite discern. It soon became clear, however.

"Are you going to knock me out like Erza, Mavis-san? Please don't . . ."

She didn't really know why, but she reached out, gently patting Natsu's head while also feeling a little bit of anger at Erza. "Don't worry, Natsu-san, I don't plan on doing anything like that. And I'm sorry for taking a mission that's so far away . . ."

To her surprise, Natsu smiled. "It's alright, Mavis-san. Let's just . . . take our time getting to Lorshire."

She smiled in return. "In other words, we'll be staying a day or two in each town along the way."

He rubbed the back of his head. "Y-yeah, I hope you don't mind. It's just that I really don't want to go on trains for days in a row again . . . it was bad last time mainly because of that."

"We can stay in each town as long as you like, Natsu-san. I'm not in any hurry to get back, but we should be pretty quick about getting there so we can stop the bandits."

"Yeah!" yelled Natsu. "I'm all fired up!"

This ended a moment later as the train started moving and he turned green, causing all his energy to be abruptly sapped from him as he felt as though he was dying.

Mavis then realized something. "Natsu-san . . . where's Happy?"

The Dragon Slayer managed to stave off his motion sickness long enough to reply. "He went with Wendy and Carla on their job."

Mavis covered her mouth with her hand to prevent Natsu from seeing her mischievous smile. "Happy really is smitten with Carla, isn't he?"

Natsu, due to the conversation he was having, didn't feel quite as sick anymore. He realized that he never really conversed with anyone while he was on transportation, so he could only focus on his sickness. "Yeah, he's really got a big crush on her. I just worry that it's because he's never been exposed to any other . . . cats? Happy's not really a cat, though, is he?"

She looked over at Natsu in slight surprise. She didn't know why, but it looked as though he'd slightly downplayed his intelligence when he was around others. "No, he isn't. I don't see the harm in telling you about it, so listen, Natsu-san . . ." she trailed off, turning her gaze to look out the window as the countryside passed by. "Don't tell anyone else, but there is another world connected to Earth Land . . . it's called Edolas. Happy and Carla come from there; they're part of a race called 'Exceeds.'"

Natsu looked over at her. "Seriously? Well, that explains why Mystogan looks exactly like Jellal."

"You're really not dumb at all, are you, Natsu-san?" she asked, still looking out the window. "Why do you hide your intelligence from the guild?"

Natsu inhaled sharply. He'd forgotten who he was talking to. Normally, he could get by with a couple of intelligent comments and not have anyone think anything of it, but this was very likely the most intelligent member to ever pass through Fairy Tail, and perhaps one of the most intelligent people to ever walk Earth Land, if not _the_ most intelligent. Knowing he could not play it off due to who he was dealing with, he decided to come clean. "To be honest with you, it's because everyone knows me the way I was when I was younger . . . I'm a lot smarter now than I was then, but . . ." he trailed off, not really knowing how to complete the sentence, but Mavis did it for him.

"But you're afraid that changing your character now will put people off?" He nodded. "And yet you were completely serious about fighting me despite the fact that you knew the outcome . . . you really are an odd man, Natsu-san. I won't press any further or ask you to change yourself in the eyes of your friends. That's your issue, not mine. However . . ." she turned her eyes to meet his. "Why act normally around me, then? Surely you don't have as much trust in me as, say, Erza-san or Gray-san."

Natsu averted his gaze, surprising her. She never thought Natsu would back down from her gaze. "You're my nakama now, Mavis-san, but . . . I don't really know how to explain it. I feel like you won't judge me. You're a lot nicer than Lucy, Gray, Erza, and even Happy."

She smiled. "I'm glad you see me as a nakama, Natsu-san. As I said, how you deal with other people in your life is up to you. It's not my place to tell you how to interact with others, but . . . have more faith in your friends, Natsu-san. Bonds are the only things really worth having in this world, and they're what empower us and give us something to live for."

"Thanks . . . Mavis-chan." said Natsu, surprising her once again.

What really surprised her, though, was how she responded: "Anytime, Natsu-kun."

The two then sat in peaceful silence for about half an hour, and Natsu dozed off in his seat, not very bothered by his motion sickness anymore for a reason he couldn't discern. Mavis looked over at him, wondering exactly what kind of person Natsu was. At first, he seemed rather simple, but now she'd learned about his hidden intelligence, as well as his lack of complete trust in his friends. She couldn't entirely blame him, if she was being honest with herself. Erza was always beating him up, Lucy was often irritable in general when it came to him, and Gray would never openly admit that they were anything more than rivals when in fact they were more like brothers. She'd keep to her word, though. How he dealt with them was his concern, not hers, and she wasn't going to make it her concern. However, it _did_ seem as if he trusted her a great deal. Her lips turned into a small smile. It made her happy that he trusted her.

Three hours later

It was sunset when the duo arrived at the small town of Columbia, which was about thirty miles to the southwest of Magnolia. Mavis gently shook him awake. "Natsu-kun, we're at Columbus Station."

He woke up, appearing a little groggy, but he recovered in a matter of about ten seconds as they exited the train. "Did I really sleep the whole way here?"

Mavis nodded. "You were asleep for about three hours."

Natsu was astounded. He'd never been able to go to sleep (without Erza's "assistance," of course) on transportation. "That's awesome! Maybe riding around won't be so bad."

She looked over at the man in slight surprise. "Really? How did you handle the transportation, anyway?"

Natsu's brow furrowed. "I don't know, honestly. If I had to guess, it'd be because I actually had someone talking to me."

She raised a brow, genuine concern crossing her features. "You don't talk to Lucy-san, Erza-san, or Gray-san when you're out on missions with them?"

He shrugged. "Not a lot, no. Plus, Erza usually knocks me unconscious as soon as we get on any kind of transportation, so it's not like I get to talk a lot anyway."

Mavis frowned slightly. "Well, Natsu-kun, feel free to talk to me about whatever comes to mind."

"Thanks, Mavis-chan. And hey," she looked over at him, "don't frown so much. Seeing you smile makes me happy."

Her lips immediately tilted upwards. "Let's go find a hotel, Natsu-kun. I believe there's one with rooms with hot tubs in them. With any luck, we'll be able to check into a vacant room."

Natsu smiled. "Lead the way, Mavis-chan." After a few minutes of walking around, Natsu said, "I don't think I've ever actually stopped here before. We usually left early enough to keep riding past this town and go straight to Greensborough."

"It's a peaceful little town." said Mavis, smiling. "It was only built about fifty years ago, too."

"Say, Mavis-chan, I don't think I ever asked you, but how are you still alive? I mean, you're over four hundred, right?"

She nodded. "I'd like to keep that personal for now if you don't mind, Natsu-kun."

He smiled. "That's fine. I was just curious was all."

They then wandered into the hotel for which Mavis was looking; it was quite nice for such a small town, and the price wasn't that steep, either: only five thousand jewels per night. After paying to stay one night, the duo ascended the stairs to their room.

"Hey, Natsu-kun . . ." said Mavis, looking over at him with a mischievous expression.

"Yeah, Mavis-chan?" asked Natsu, who was unpacking the clothes he was going to sleep in.

"I call first shower!" she yelled before bolting for the door.

"W-WHAT?! NO WAY! GET BACK HERE!" Natsu yelled, attempting to get his foot in the door before she closed it completely and missing by about an inch. He then heard the sound of bubbling. "YOU'RE NOT TAKING A SHOWER! LET ME GET IN FIRST IF YOU'RE GONNA TAKE A BATH!"

"Nope." he heard from the other side of the door. "I beat you in here fair and square."

"Hmph . . ." Natsu huffed, laying down on his bed and staring at the ceiling. A few minutes later, he became bored and reflected on what had transpired in the last month, and he decided it was even crazier than a normal Fairy Tail month. First, there was the whole Oración Seis incident, where he met Wendy, yet another Dragon Slayer. He also made amends with Jellal, who was apparently no longer engulfed in darkness, and with his power defeated Zero. After making those amends, though, Jellal was taken in by the Council for crimes he couldn't even remember committing, and his assistance in the elimination of one of the most dangerous magical creations in Fiore was completely ignored. Erza was utterly broken for a few days after the whole incident. Natsu had never seen her lock up so badly; they could barely even get her to eat. Though, in true Erza fashion, she pushed through her pain and got back to work. The next thing he knew, they returned from a simple job only to discover that the first guild master of Fairy Tail was not only alive but also that she wanted to join their team. Now he was on a mission with the aforementioned woman, and he felt that he trusted her more than any of his other friends despite the fact that they'd only met a few days ago. Even _he_ didn't really know why he trusted her so much. After a while of thinking, he thought that maybe it was because she was so kind and didn't already know him that well. However, that didn't feel quite right either, so he just let it go. He looked over at the clock only to nearly fall off the bed. She'd been in there for over an hour!

Mavis came out a short time later with a towel in her hair and purple pyjamas on. She looked at Natsu (who was glaring at her) and smirked. "Is there a problem, Natsu-kun?"

"Hmph!" Natsu huffed again before walking into the bathroom.

Mavis giggled and got into her bed. She turned on the TV and watched for a little while before wondering exactly why she enjoyed teasing Natsu and messing with him so much in general. She found it odd that she, with a measured IQ of 336, was unable to figure out exactly why this was. Eventually, sleep overtook her, and she drifted off to sleep. A few minutes later, Natsu got out of the shower, looked at the first guild master in her slumber, and he smiled. He then got into bed and slept as well.

The next day

The two boarded the train at ten a.m., a good time to balance both the fatigue of travel and travelling a good distance. Natsu sat down in a seat beside the window, and Mavis sat beside him, slightly surprising him, but he didn't think much of it as he looked over and smiled. "Today's gonna be a bit rougher, isn't it?"

"Yeah . . ." she said, smiling apologetically. "I'm really sorry for picking a mission so far away, Natsu-kun."

He grinned. "I already told you not to worry about it. Besides, now that I actually have someone to talk to, my motion sickness doesn't bother me nearly as badly."

She looked over at him for a moment before he quickly looked away, settling for looking out the window. She inwardly giggled. Natsu, on the other hand, felt an odd sort of nervousness.

At Lorshire, a week and a half later

"You know, you have a bad habit of torturing me." said Natsu said as he stepped off the train at Lorshire Station.

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about, Natsu-kun." Mavis said innocently as she inwardly laughed at the plurality of trinkets she'd purchased at all the towns in which they'd stayed. Examining all the bags and boxes carefully, she'd estimate that she was forcing the Dragon Slayer to carry roughly eighty pounds of the stuff she'd bought . . . and that wasn't including the weight of his own luggage. She, on the other hand, was carrying about fifteen pounds (her luggage).

"One day, Mavis-chan, one day . . ."

"One day what, Natsu-kun?" she asked, looking him in the eyes.

He felt a brief flash of that odd nervousness before saying, "One day I'll beat you!"

She snorted for effect. "Please, Natsu-kun, don't joke around. You can't even beat my thought projection." Gods, she enjoyed messing with him.

"H-hey!" said Natsu. "You just watch! I'll—"

"Keep dreaming, Na-chan."

"_Na-chan_?! Where do you even come up with these things?"

She stuck her tongue out at him. "If you're done whining, Na-chan, I believe we have a client we need to speak to."

"Fine." Natsu grumbled.

Mavis smirked as they continued down the road, looking for the hotel at which they were planning on staying. After about five minutes, the hotel came into sight, and the two checked in.

Upon entering the room, a large thud was heard as Natsu was finally able to drop the items he was carrying onto the floor. He sighed as he popped his arms. "Alright. Are going to talk to the client?"

She nodded, and the two left. They came upon the client's building. He explained that he was a wealthy businessman and that the bandits had been interfering with his caravans in particular. He suspected that they'd been hired by someone else, but he said he simply wanted them gone. With their mission in mind, the duo searched through the countryside for a few hours and finally discovered a cave. Upon checking it out, the two found signs that the place was inhabited, and, after going a little deeper, heard voices.

Mavis then felt the urge to amuse herself. She looked over at Natsu and said, "Shh, be quiet, Na-chan." Natsu gave her a strange look before feeling a colossal rise in magical power from the woman.

"M-Mavis-chan, what're you—?!"

"Fairy Glitter!" she yelled, and suddenly the entire cave exploded in radiant light. Natsu hung onto a rock with his eyes closed, the force of the wind created by the blast being too much for his body alone to stand. When it was over, he looked around, only to adopt a shocked, dumfounded expression. The entire cave was gone . . . literally. There was now just a gaping hole in the earth where the cave had once been. And the small mountain that housed the entrance to the cave? Well, that was gone too. "Are we having fun yet, Na-chan?" she asked the man cheerfully.

Natsu looked up at her, still dumbfounded. "Mavis-chan, that was so . . . so . . . AWESOME!" he yelled, crying tears of joy and hugging her.

She laughed _very _hard at that. "I didn't—HAHA—think your reaction—HAHAHA—would be so extreme, Natsu-kun."

"You blew up a mountain! You're my hero!"

That made her laugh even harder. "That may be the single best thing I've ever heard."

After Natsu finally calmed down, the two headed back to inform the client that the job was done. He was pleased and paid them in full. After that, the two headed to the inn. As soon as they walked in the door, Natsu dashed for the shower, only to have Mavis grab him from behind and fling him across the room. "H-hey, don't do this again!"

She looked at him innocently. "Is there a problem, Na-chan?"

He glared at her for a moment before averting his gaze, pouting. "Nope."

"Good." Mavis said, smiling, before stepping into the bathroom and shutting the door.

In Magnolia, just over a week and a half later

"We're back!" yelled Natsu, instinctively dodging a giant fist that never came. He looked up, surprised. "No punching me in the face?"

Makarov raised an eyebrow. "You didn't destroy anything this time. I can't believe it."

Everyone in the guild looked up in surprise, and they all started talking about the world ending and mass conspiracies. Natsu not destroying anything on a job violated the laws of nature in their books.

Natsu and Mavis walked to the front of the guild and reported everything that happened. Makarov nodded and released them. He was surprised, however, when Mavis sat down with Natsu and the others. Not only that, but she sat beside Natsu. _Did those two become close during that mission?_ he wondered.

"NATSUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" yelled a blue cat, flying directly at said man's face. Happy smashed directly into his face, sending Natsu onto the floor.

Natsu smiled, peeling the blue Exceed off his face. "Hey buddy! Did your mission with Wendy and Carla go well?"

"Aye sir! Did yours go well, Natsu?"

"You bet! Mavis-chan and I kicked ass!"

The entire guild went quiet as the same thought passed through everyone's mind. _Did Natsu just call her "Mavis-chan?"_

"Well, Na-chan, you just watched, but we can pretend." Mavis said, patting his head.

They were even more stunned. Erza raised a brow. _What exactly happened on that job to make those two become so close, anyway?_

"H-hey! That was only because you—" Natsu started to say, but Mavis covered his mouth with her hand.

"Shhh!" she said, a mischievous smile on her face.

_Gods, what have those two done?_ Makarov thought. He knew about the Shodaime's flair for mischief, but it looked like something big had happened. He could only hope it didn't hurt his wallet later. He then realized something. _Natsu likes to destroy everything, and Mavis enjoys causing mayhem! Those two are like fire and gasoline! It's nothing short of a miracle that every town on the way here isn't burnt to the ground. Wait . . . _am_ I sure every town from here to Lorshire isn't gone?!_ "I'll be right back!" yelled Makarov before running to the back room of the guild hall to make a few calls.

Everyone in the guild looked at one another in confusion. Suddenly, they heard two people laughing: Natsu and Mavis. The duo knew _exactly _why Makarov had gone away. They then high-fived. Suddenly, Happy said, "They lllllike each other!" Mavis promptly batted him to the ground while still laughing with Natsu, tears beginning to form in the corners of their eyes.

Lucy voiced everyone's thoughts: "What's so funny?" Mavis and Natsu looked at her, then back at each other, and then promptly busted out laughing once more, this time literally rolling on the floor.

"G-God, my ribs!" Natsu yelled.

"M-my throat . . ." said Mavis in between her bouts of laughter.

Gray raised an eyebrow. "Are you gonna tell everyone what's up, or . . .?"

Their answer was given to them a short time later when Makarov yelled, "YOU BLEW UP A MOUNTAIN?!"

"YES!" they yelled in unison before laughing even harder. The entire guild looked at them; everyone was in shock at their outrageous behavior.

"Natsu!" yelled Makarov, enraged at the young man.

"It was me, Makarov." said Mavis, looking down in guilt.

"M-Mavis, you . . .?"

"Yes. It was me. I just . . . wanted to *sniff* have a little fun." Everyone in the guild then looked on as she broke into tears over such a trivial matter. Most of the guild members were freaked out by seeing the guild master cry, including Makarov, so they all simply watched with shock. They were even more shocked when she clung to Natsu.

He then wrapped his arms around the guild master, gently stroking her long hair. "It's alright, Mavis-chan. Shh . . . ."

She looked up at him with teary eyes. "Is it *sniff* is it really?"

"It is. You know how Gramps gets; don't worry about it, okay?"

"Okay Natsu-kun." Mavis said, burying her head into his shoulder for a few minutes before she calmed down enough to recompose herself. "I'm sorry about that, everyone. I just *sniff* get carried away by my emotions." She looked into Natsu's eyes, murmuring a quiet "Thank you, Natsu-kun." before getting up.

"Are you alright, Shodaime?" asked Makarov a bit worriedly. He knew that Mavis hated to be scolded (or to be wrong), but to think that she would break down like that greatly surprised him.

"I'm alright now, Makarov. By the way, Natsu-kun . . . where'd you put my stuff?"

"It's outside. I'll go get it." They then watched as Natsu dragged in well over a hundred and fifty pounds of trinkets. "Where do you want it?"

"Just leave it in the corner for now." Mavis said, enjoying watching Natsu struggle with her large pile of useless junk.

Natsu finally put in it the corner, and he rejoined everyone at the table, with Mavis by his side. "What's up everybody?" he asked, laughing.

Soon enough, things were back to normal, and the entire guild had a massive brawl before everyone started going home. Lucy, Gray, and Erza were all going to walk together for a bit, though. The situation with Natsu and Mavis had created this unspoken unanimous decision. This conviction was strengthened when Natsu and Happy left to go fishing and Natsu invited Mavis to come along. She accepted, and the three went off.

Gray, Erza, and Lucy left simultaneously, and the three began walking toward Magnolia's center square. Erza was the first one to speak up. "Okay, so what exactly is going on between Natsu and Mavis?"

Lucy shook her head. "I have no idea. I've never seen Natsu act like this, and I've definitely never heard him call a girl "-chan" before."

The two then looked to the third member of their entourage. "I honestly have no idea what the idiot's up to, but did you see the way she clung to him when she started crying? And how he responded? I've _never_ seen him act like that. At the very least, it seems like those two are really close."

"What about you, Gray?" asked Erza, smirking.

"Huh?" he asked, clearly confused.

"You got back from that job with Juvia a week ago. I thought you said you'd never go on a job with her."

A very faint blush could be seen on Gray's cheeks. "I only went on that because I got tired of her begging."

"Indeed." said Erza, still smirking.

"What's that supposed to mean, huh?!" asked Gray, clearly vexed by the knight's response.

"Can we keep discussing Natsu and Mavis? This is some interesting stuff!" said Lucy, who had a bit of a devious look on her face.

"I think you've been spending too much time around Mira, Lucy . . . ." said Gray.

"She's right, though. I want to talk more about it." said Erza.

"Wasn't it crazy how she even got him to haul around all that stuff she bought while they were out?" asked Lucy.

"It was." said Gray. "I also thought it was weird that she was always around Natsu when she was always sitting next to the master before."

The three talked a little longer before they all split up, going to their respective places of dwelling.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: First of all, I am amazed that this has received such overwhelmingly positive reception. I'd like to deeply thank everyone who reviewed for their time and for reading my story. This is my first one, so I certainly didn't expect this. Some people also might have noticed a _slight_ problem . . . and when I say "slight problem," I mean a massive temporal inconsistency. Fairy Tail was formed only 170 years before the canon takes place, whereas this story has Mavis, Precht, and etc. all alive four hundred years ago. I believe I've efficiently solved the issue, and it will be explained later in the story. I'll do my best not to commit any murders of plot.

fallout-boy97: It was my pleasure to write this! I honestly got bored with the lack of this pairing in stories. I just saw that their personalities would be quite compatible if done properly, especially since it's so incredibly easy to anger Natsu.

treeofsakuras: It seems that way to me as well. Unfortunately, there won't be anything involving Natsu being from the past in this story (or, rather, I hadn't planned on it). I went through several scenarios, but I decided that it would be too far-fetched an idea to use in this fic, particularly concerning where I'm planning on going with it.

QuatroPuppy: I love your name! Thank you for your constructive criticism. It's much appreciated; it tells me where I need to improve, and I think I got the full stops worked out as well as added a variety of words denoting speech other than "said," so it should be a bit easier to bear this time. I _did_, however, begin work on this chapter before I read this and really took notice of it myself, so there may be a stray or two sentence stops I missed in my proofreading. :P

Domis Basool: I have a set time in mind when they will actually become a couple, and trust me when I say that _a lot_ is going to happen before then. Mavis is . . . overpowered. That's why I decided to have her power return quite slowly; you'll see what types of magic she can use by the end of the chapter. I had to make it up, unfortunately; as far as I can tell, there's no current consensus on what kind of magic Mavis actually uses other than the Fairy Tail spells she created, and I certainly can't have her using Fairy Glitter and blowing up mountains all over the place, amusing as that may be. However, Natsu _will_ get stronger with Mavis around, and there are a couple of reasons for that, one of which is in this chapter.

Deathwatch 45: Thanks man! I've been busy lately despite it being summer, sadly. Ah, I miss the days of sitting around playing Battlefront II all night.

Guest (May 12): Thanks for leaving your thoughts! Yes, that _was_ annoying in retrospect, and I think I've fixed it decently well in this chapter. An important aspect to all this is that Mavis is still kind of an outsider to everyone in the group except Natsu, and it's also a bit awkward for them to casually associate with her because they think of her as being the guild master rather than a normal comrade, but they'll come around soon enough; don't worry.

Majestic Star Arceus: Thanks man! I wondered the same thing. It's a shame that there aren't more Natsu and Mavis fics, but people are more into the idea of Mavis and Zeref, I think. I'm not, personally; I don't see Zeref as a peace-loving person like Mavis. I see him (in his purest form, the one truest to his own heart) as utterly evil, something I hope to make clear in this chapter and later ones.

Guest (May 16): It was no problem, really. It's just a matter of me just being able to balance my schedule halfway decently. XD

Guest (May 26): I definitely thought Natsu being more intelligent was an interesting concept, but he'll still be as hotheaded as ever! He just wouldn't be Natsu if he wasn't.

blade: That was one of my favorite scenes to write in chapter one, honestly. I really enjoy writing Mavis's character; her spontaneity gives me an interesting challenge.

"And what is good, Phædrus,

And what is not good . . .

Need we ask anyone to tell us these things?"

-Robert Pirsig, _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, nor am I in any way affiliated with its creation or distribution. I am simply a fan who wishes to present a different take on events than the canon series. I also do not claim to own any rights to _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_, for that matter.

"Are you having fun, Mavis-chan?" asked Natsu.

"I am, Natsu-kun," Mavis said, smiling. Behind them, there was a large pile of fish.

"It's getting late," Natsu remarked a few minutes later, looking around at the impending darkness and frowning. "Do you need to go back soon?"

"Yeah, I do," Mavis said, also frowning slightly before sighing and getting up.

"Do you want me to walk with you back to the guild?" asked Natsu.

"I wouldn't be opposed to the idea," Mavis replied, smiling.

"Happy, do you mind carrying the fish back to the house? I'll be there in about half an hour."

"Aye sir! You two llllllike each other . . ." the blue Exceed trailed off, only to have Mavis bat him to the ground once again.

As the two walked along the streets, Mavis cut her eyes at him. "Natsu, thanks a lot for earlier. I didn't mean for my emotions to get the better of me like that."

"I was more worried about the fact that you were crying. I don't like seeing you like that . . ."

She then turned her head towards him, an odd twinkle in her eyes, before looking up at the sky and saying, "The stars are beautiful tonight, ne, Na-chan?"

"Yeah, they are," Natsu said, looking up and smiling.

They chatted for a few minutes, and they soon arrived at the guild. "Thanks for taking me fishing with you and Happy, Natsu," Mavis smiled happily.

"Anytime, Mavis," Natsu replied.

He was shocked when Mavis wrapped her arms around him. "I'll see you tomorrow, Natsu. Don't eat too many fish, okay?"

He hugged her in return, laughing. "I won't. Good night, Mavis-chan."

"Good night, Natsu-kun."

With that, they broke the hug and parted ways, each heading to their abodes feeling happy with the way the day had turned out.

xxxxxxxxxx

The next day

xxxxxxxxxx

Natsu and Happy travelled through the downpour to the guild. "Why is it raining? It was so clear last night," Natsu commented.

"Did other things become clear last night?" asked Happy, clear mischief in his eyes.

"Cut it out, would ya? There's nothing going on between us," Natsu said defensively.

"Indeed," said Happy nonchalantly.

"What's that supposed to mean, huh?!" Natsu yelled, both of them unknowingly mirroring Gray and Erza's words the night before.

"We're here, Natsu," said Happy.

Natsu and Happy entered the guild hall. "Hey Na-chan!" yelled Mavis from the usual table. He smiled and sat down beside her.

"How's it going, Mavis-chan?"

"Well enough," Mavis laughed. "Did you have a good morning?"

"Yeah, it was awesome! Happy bought a new alarm clock that sings a song about fish, so it was pretty funny to wake up to that."

Before Mavis could reply, Wendy walked up to the two. "Hey, Carla and I are going on a walk. Do you guys want to come with us?"

"Sure," Mavis agreed, smiling. She was completely unbothered by the fact that it was raining outside.

After a few minutes of walking around and idly chatting, the three came upon Mystogan, who was running towards them and panting. "Huh? Mystogan, is something wrong?" asked Wendy worriedly.

"Please, you have to listen to me," he said, his breathing ragged.

Mavis raised a brow. "What exactly is going on, Mystogan-san?"

"I trust you know of Edolas, Shodaime?" inquired Mystogan.

"Yes. What's happened?"

"I have been going around Earth Land sealing up Anima that the king of Edolas has been placing in Earth Land in order to prevent him from gaining more power in his senseless campaign. However . . ." Mystogan said, gesturing up at the funnel now appearing in the clouds, "this one is too big. I cannot control it. I'm afraid Magnolia and Fairy Tail are finished. They will be transformed into a Lacrima and used to bring magic power to Edolas."

"Those bastards won't get away with this!" yelled Natsu, the temperature of the air around him slightly rising. Mavis touched his arm and he calmed down a bit.

"Is there anything we can do to prevent it?" Mavis asked, her mind quickly going through thousands of scenarios.

He shook his head in the negative. "No. However, you _can_ go into Edolas and rescue them yourselves. Take these." He then handed each of them an X-Ball. "They will allow you to use magic in Edolas."

"What about you, Mystogan?" asked Natsu.

"I'll look for any stragglers that might be left behind by the Anima, plus . . ." he took off his mask, making Wendy and Carla gasp, "I need to speak with Wendy about something before the Anima sucks Magnolia into it. You two see if you can warn the others in the guild before it's too late. If you fly into the Anima not too long after it sucks up Magnolia, I'm sure you'll be able to get into Edolas. Thought projections, Exceed, and Dragon Slayers aren't affected by the pull of the Anima, so I have no doubt everyone here will be okay. Also, Dragon Slayer magic is a very useful tool in Edolas. If you find any chips of the Lacrima that used to be Magnolia, don't hesitate to smash them, Natsu. Using Dragon Slayer magic on them reverts them to people or whatever object they were before they were transformed by the Anima. Lastly, people in Edolas cannot store magic in their own bodies; magic is a limited resource there. That's why they have to use Anima." Natsu and Mavis nodded, running in the direction of the guild. Mystogan turned around and looked at Wendy. "Wendy . . . I'm sorry. All those years ago . . . I left you at Cait Shelter. Maybe I should've taken you with me . . . . I left you because it was just too dangerous to bring you along. Dealing with the Anima would have been very dangerous with anyone else around. I hope you understand . . . ."

She nodded, finally understanding what was going on and what had transpired so many years ago. "I forgive you, Mystogan, but what happens now?"

He sighed. "In just a few moments, Magnolia will be gone. It's up to you all to save Fairy Tail. After you go up with Natsu, Mavis, Happy, and Carla, I'll search for Gajeel and anyone else who may have been able to avoid the vortex. After that, I'll help you all out in Edolas as much as I can."

Mavis looked to the sky, about a thousand calculations running through her mind, before saying, "We won't make it back in time. The Anima's rate of expansion is too high for it to be physically plausible."

Natsu grit his teeth. "Damn it. How long do we have?"

She looked towards him sadly. "We have fifty-seven seconds with a standard deviation of around two and a half seconds."

"So little time . . .?" Natsu asked, clearly disappointed.

_Wait a second . . . Natsu understood that?_ thought Happy.

True to Mavis's prediction, fifty-eight seconds after she made that comment, the trio looked around them in horror and awe as Magnolia began rapidly disappearing, turning into Eternano before being sucked into the giant Anima. Soon, there was just a barren gray desert-like field where Magnolia used to be.

"Natsu," Mavis said, turning to him, "I need to give you something. It's a power called 'Second Origin;' it will help you delve into your most hidden recesses of magic. However, you will feel a great deal of pain for a few seconds."

"Do it," Natsu said, steeling himself.

Mavis raised her hand and focused on Natsu's magic. After a moment, Natsu screamed loudly. Mavis frowned, despising herself for putting him in even a bit of pain, but knowing it was for the best in the end. True to what she said, his pain was over in just a few seconds, and he was gasping for breath.

"Are you okay?" she asked, rushing to his side and helping him to his feet.

"Y-yeah, I'm alright," Natsu said, still slightly out of breath.

She hugged him. "I know it hurts, but you'll see an improvement in your magic, I promise you."

They held each other for a moment before Happy cleared his throat and they quickly broke apart, both with a light dusting of pink on their cheeks.

"Happy," said Mavis, "can you fly us into the Anima?"

"Aye sir!" With that, Happy picked up Natsu, who in turn wrapped his arms around Mavis. Happy began to fly without much decrease in his speed at all. "Yea!" he cheered.

"What?" asked Natsu.

Happy's face turned mischievous. "Mavis is a lot lighter than Lucy . . . ."

Mavis laughed. "I don't think you should let Lucy-san hear you say that. It'd be a shame if someone told her . . . ."

"Y-you wouldn't do that, right?" asked Happy, honestly scared.

She smiled. "No. I'm just teasing you."

Soon, they began to pass through the Anima. Their eyes widened as there were several flashes of white light before a plethora of colors assaulted their vision. Soon enough, they emerged into the world of Edolas, a sprawling wilderness of purple and yellow-green. All of them were in awe; even though Mavis had heard of Edolas, she had never actually been there herself. The majesty of the floating islands and the mystery of the rivers flowing through the sky enticed their imaginations.

"Who knew a place like this actually existed . . .?" Happy asked in amazement.

Mavis knew very little of Edolas, and she had to agree with Happy. The terrain of the place startled her just as much as the other two. Mavis then scouted the terrain, approximating that the closest island was about a tenth of a mile away. "Happy, that island is the closest," she said, pointing to one that looked a bit further away than another one.

"Huh? But that one looks closer," Happy remarked, gesturing towards one that was much bigger.

"Don't be fooled by its size," Mavis said. "It's actually twice as far away; it's just throwing off your sense of distance because of how large it is."

Happy followed her words and, true to her calculations, the island they were currently on was much closer than they had originally perceived.

"What do we do now?" Natsu asked Mavis.

She sat down on the edge of the island. "We wait for Carla and Wendy. They should be here in about thirteen seconds, and they should emerge from the portal a bit closer to this island than we did."

After thirteen seconds, Carla and Wendy emerged in midair; true to Mavis's predictions, they were closer to the island than they were. Natsu looked at her in amazement. "You're awesome, Mavis-chan!" he exclaimed, grinning widely.

"You're not so bad yourself, Natsu-kun," Mavis retorted, smiling slyly.

Natsu's heart skipped a beat. _D-did she just flirt with me? And why do I feel nervous again? Damn it!_

While Natsu's face was still a light pink, Mavis called to the two. "We're over here!"

Carla and Wendy quickly approached them, landing on their island after a couple of minutes. "Why is Natsu blushing?" asked Wendy, immediately noticing the other Dragon Slayer's distinct lack of composure.

"Aye sir! Natsu's all flustered because Mavis–" Happy was interrupted by Natsu putting a hand over his mouth.

"Anyway, let's move on, shall we?" said Natsu, wanting to change the topic as quickly as possible.

"Oh, but what's wrong, Na-chan? Aren't you going to let Happy finish?" asked Mavis, smirking.

"M-Mavis!" he said, clearly still flustered. He then noticed how her hair stuck to her forehead due to the rain from Earth Land still clinging to her, obscuring one of her eyes. His heartbeat sped up a little once again.

Carla cleared her throat. "If you two are quite finished, we need to rescue everyone."

"Of course." Mavis regarded Natsu briefly with mischief in her eyes before turning her mind back to the task at hand. "According to what little I know of Edolas, there is limited magic here, and magic is not stored in people's bodies. This means that magic must be used through Lacrima embedded in weapons specifically designed to use them. Also, I predict that due to the lack of magical power, we will find little to no guilds since they use magic. In other words, we shouldn't count on the support of any other groups. Is there anything else you can tell us, Carla?"

"H-huh?" Carla asked. "Why me?" In truth, Carla was stunned at the woman's ability to make so many conclusions out of so little information. She wasn't called the Fairy Tactician for nothing, she supposed.

"I heard you refer to yourself as an Exceed a day before Natsu-kun and I left on our first mission, which means you have information Happy doesn't. Is there anything you can add to what I've said so far?"

"Exceed . . .?" Happy wondered aloud.

Carla nodded. "Our mission . . . was to kill any Dragon Slayers we came into contact with. The order was issued by the kingdom of Extalia itself. I don't know why _he_ doesn't remember that," she said, pointing towards Happy.

"That is impossible," Mavis stated simply, causing Carla to raise an eyebrow. "If the Exceed who issued that command knew anything about Dragon Slayers, they would know that it would be nigh on impossible for an Exceed to kill one; in fact, could an Exceed even easily overpower a human with no magical abilities whatsoever? Not only that, but both you and Happy were hatched from eggs. It would be foolhardy to send fully grown Exceed to Earth Land to kill a Dragon Slayer, but I cannot imagine _any_ scenario in which it would be considered a wise decision to send Exceed _children_ to accomplish such a task. Something doesn't add up here . . . ." Carla looked at the woman, stunned beyond words. She'd never considered it from that standpoint before, and now that Mavis said it, it made so little sense that she simply couldn't believe that the Exceeds would ever think such a thing would be even remotely possible. Carla then also realized that they had sent out a hundred Exceed eggs to different locations in Earth Land when there were possibly only a few Dragon Slayers even in existence. If they had wanted them to form some sort of coalition, they'd done a fair job of making sure it never happened. To say that something didn't add up was an understatement.

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A few hours later

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"I can't believe we haven't run into anyone yet . . ." said Natsu, clearly frustrated that they'd been moving for so long to no avail. They were currently moving along a winding forest pathway flanked on either side by fairly steep embankments.

"This is a very large area," Mavis commented, "but I have to agree with you. I thought we'd have seen at least a couple of hunters by now."

Wendy was about to speak before she slipped off the road due to a rock sliding out from under her foot. "Wendy!" Carla yelled as she followed her through the brush through which she'd fallen when she slipped. Natsu, Mavis, and Happy followed close behind her.

"O-ow . . ." muttered Wendy as she hit the bottom of the embankment.

"Wendy! Are you alright?" asked Carla as she focused on helping Wendy up. She then noticed that the other three were there as well, but they were looking past them, their eyes wide. "What is it?" Carla then turned around and her eyes widened as well. Before them was a tree-building with a Fairy Tail flag between its branches, as well as large words that spelled "Fairy Tail" above the door.

"No way . . ." muttered Natsu.

"What should we do?" asked Wendy in wonder.

The Fairy Tactician analyzed the situation before saying, "I believe the best course of action would be to take caution. I say that we should approach them, as there is a high probability that the vast majority of the members of the guild are the Edolas counterparts of the Earth Land Fairy Tail members, but we cannot assume that they will have the same personalities. Be on your guards."

They all nodded, agreeing with Mavis's assessment before making their way to the entrance of Edolas's Fairy Tail. When they opened the door, everyone in the guild looked up to see who had entered, and upon seeing Natsu, Edo-Lucy immediately started teasing him. "Well it's about damn time you got back!" she exclaimed, pinching his cheeks. "What the hell were you doing? Everyone was starting to worry about you, ya little shit!" she then noticed Mavis's glare and backed off a bit, feeling as though she was going to receive a rather hard kick in the ass if she didn't. "Who are these guys?"

Mavis replied, "We are all members from Earth Land's Fairy Tail. The man you were teasing is not the Natsu you know."

There was a small uproar in the guild as everyone began demanding to know exactly what was going on. They all quieted down when Edo-Lucy yelled, "EVERYBODY SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY! WE'RE NOT GONNA FIND OUT ANYTHING IF YOUR DON'T SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTHS!"

Carla smirked. "I approve of this Lucy."

"Now," she said, turning to them, "tell us everything."

Mavis stepped forward. "I am Mavis Vermilion, Earth Land's Fairy Tail's first guild master. With me are Natsu Dragneel, Wendy Marvell, Happy, and Carla, the latter two being Exceed." There was a collective gasp from the crowd when she said the word "Exceed." "We are here because our guild as well as Magnolia, the town in which it was situated, was sucked into an Anima by the king of this land. We believe his mission is to convert our guild, town, and friends into magical power for Edolas. We plan to rescue them."

They all sat in stunned silence. Finally, Edo-Lucy said in wonder, "You're planning to take on the kingdom? Just like that?"

"We have to rescue our friends!" exclaimed Natsu passionately, slamming his hand down on the nearest table. "We can't just let them, their lives, their hopes, their dreams, turn into magic so some crazy king can use it to facilitate his own desires." Everyone with the exception of Mavis looked at him, stunned. She simply smiled. "Tell me! If we don't have our lives, if we don't have bonds, if we're not able to share our lives with our friends, then what _do_ we have in this world, damn it?!" he yelled. "Anyone who would put magic power above people's lives doesn't deserve to be a king . . ." he trailed off, his bangs covering his eyes. His eyes then flashed at them. "Anyone who desires power for personal ends deserves to have no power whatsoever."

Mavis's smile widened. _So, you already understand that, huh, Natsu-kun? If that's the case, then you're closer to understanding than you realize . . . ._

"What do you need?" Edo-Lucy asked, determination to help these people get their friends back welling up within her.

"We need information more than anything." Mavis stated simply. "If you can give us that, then we would be much better off than we are now."

"What do you want to know?" asked Edo-Lucy.

"What standing do the Exceed have here in Edolas?"

"They're angels," answered Edo-Gray, also stepping forward to help them. "They're worshipped, and their queen is God."

Mavis raised an eyebrow. "God? Interesting . . . . Is there anything you can tell us about the weaponry used in Edolas? Was I correct in my prediction that the way people use magic here is by way of Lacrima embedded in weapons?"

Edo-Lucy and the rest were astonished. "Y-yeah. How did you know that?"

"It was the most appropriate logical conclusion to which I could come given the premise that people on Edolas cannot store magic inside their own bodies. In any case, are there any individuals in particular of whom we should be wary?"

Edo-Lucy nodded. "First of all, there's Erza Knightwalker, the captain of the second division of the royal army. She is often called the 'Fairy Hunter' because she specializes in tracking us down. Next, there's Sugarboy. He's the captain of the fourth division. Hughes is the captain of the third division. Pantherlily, an Exceed with the ability to transform and become quite the warrior, is in charge of the first division of the royal army. Then there's Byro, the chief of staff of the royal army. And lastly . . . there's Faust, the king of Edolas."

Mavis nodded, a little shocked that Erza's Edolas counterpart was their enemy. "Lastly, do you all have a map of Edolas we could use?"

"Here," Edo-Lucy said after digging around in what looked to be an old trunk, "this is our spare. Let me show you where we are so you can—UGH!" she grunted as she felt the tree-building get rammed by something.

"Come out and play, fairies!" yelled Knightwalker mockingly as her Legion backed away from the structure and prepared to smash it to pieces.

"Damn it!" yelled Edo-Lucy. "Isn't that thing ready yet, Levy?!"

"Calm down, you idiot! It's at a hundred percent!" yelled Levy as she quickly sat in a chair and pulled a switch, which caused the guild to sink into the ground.

The Legion missed its intended target by about a hair's breadth. Knightwalker gritted her teeth as she slammed her fists onto the back of the Legion's neck. "Damn it to Hell! I thought I had them for sure this time!"

The guild reappeared closer to the Royal City, this time in a desert-like location. "Phew," Edo-Levy exhaled, letting her body relax into the seat. She looked over her shoulder. "We can only do that one more time. The guild just doesn't have enough magical power to sustain it anymore. We were lucky to escape this time."

There was a collective sigh of relief from everyone in the guild before Edo-Lucy turned back to the Earth-Land Fairy Tail mages. "As I was saying, this is where we are _now_." She pointed to a spot on the map not too far outside the city of Louen. "This is a quite a bit closer to the Royal City than we were before, plus Natsu should get here soon. He'll be able to drive you to the outskirts of the Royal City by the end of tomorrow, but don't expect him to be able to get you any further than that. The Royal City is pretty heavily guarded, so be on the lookout for any checkpoints on the way in and avoid them if possible."

They all nodded before they heard the rumbling of an engine outside, signaling the approach of Edo-Natsu. He entered the guild shortly after the noise stopped, looking up in surprise at the newcomers, and he nearly fell over when his eyes shifted to Natsu. "W-who are these guys?!" he asked, his eyes bulging. Edo-Lucy proceeded to explain everything to him, and he calmed down quite a bit. He turned his gaze to them. "So, you guys need me to get you to the outskirts of the Royal City? No problem, but we'll have to stay in Louen for the night since it's so late already."

They all nodded while Natsu gulped. "Transportation . . . ."

"I'm here, silly," Mavis said, placing her hand on Natsu's arm. "It won't be so bad."

Natsu smiled. "I know. Thanks, Mavis-chan."

Everyone from Edolas's Fairy Tail looked at the two in shock. Both of them had been dead serious and seemed as tough as nails since they got there, but it seemed as though they were incredibly tender towards one another. Edo-Lucy didn't comment on it, but she felt as if that tenderness went a little beyond friendship. It only served to reconfirm the reason Mavis was glaring at her while she teased Natsu. And hang on a second . . . . "YOU CAN'T HANDLE TRANSPORTATION?!" the guild yelled as a whole.

Natsu rubbed the back of his head. "Nope. I've never been able to."

They all looked at him in disbelief while Edo-Natsu checked his watch and subsequently said, "If we want to reach Louen by nightfall, we really need to go soon."

"Right," Natsu said, nodding. "Thanks for your help, everyone!"

Edo-Lucy smirked. "You guys can pay us back by shoving a boot in the king's ass when you meet him."

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An hour and a half later

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Natsu Dragion looked in the back of his car by way of his rearview mirror to see that Mavis and Natsu had fallen asleep and were currently leaning against each other. He looked in his passenger seat to see that the two Exceed and Wendy were still very much awake. "So . . ." he said, catching the trio's attention and motioning his head towards the two in the back, "what's the deal with those two, anyway? Are they together or something?"

All three of them laughed lightly before Carla said, "We're pretty sure they like each other, but they're not together . . . we think."

"Ah, so it's like that, huh?"

The three chatted for a few more minutes before they came upon Louen. It was nearly pitch black by then, the only sources of light being the streetlights and the glow of the moons radiating off the ground.

"Wake up, you two." Carla said as she nudged them. They began to open their eyes, and upon seeing how close they were, their faces immediately turned a light shade of pink and they separated.

Edo-Natsu laughed as they got out of the well-hidden car and made their way to the nearest hotel. "I'd like four rooms, please," he requested upon arriving at the cash register.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we only have three open. Is that going to be a problem?"

"No, not at all. Thanks for your help."

They all walked up the stairs. Natsu and Mavis were still a little groggy from their nap, so Edo-Natsu decided to pull one on them. "Alright, well, I'm going to my room. Happy, Wendy, Carla, you guys should go to yours as well. We need to be ready by ten in the morning tomorrow." He looked at them, desperately hoping they would catch on, before they nodded in the affirmative, mischief in their eyes,

They left the two in the hallway. The two walked into their room. They then looked up and simultaneously saw a bed. _A_ bed. A single, beautiful queen-sized bed with a brown comforter and clean white sheets. Without thinking, both of them stumbled into the bed and simply slept.

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The next morning, 9:30 a.m.

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Natsu and Mavis began to wake up at the same time, stirring slightly from their slumber. Natsu tried to move his legs, only to realize he couldn't. Something was constricting them. Mavis tried to move hers and quickly discovered the same problem. They both opened their eyes slowly. They then yelled out in surprise simultaneously and fell off the bed in a tangled mess. Mavis was on top of Natsu, looking into his eyes. Her face was a light pink while Natsu's was a violent crimson. They stayed like that for a moment before Natsu broke her gaze. They both got off the ground.

"S-sorry . . ." Natsu muttered.

Mavis, however, had regained her composure enough for her mischievous side to surface. "It's alright, Na-chan. I can be on top if you want."

His heartbeat sped up and his face, which was finally going back to normal, became crimson once again. "S-stop saying that kinda stuff!"

Mavis smirked. "Okay, I will . . . for now." He gave her a playful glare before realizing that neither of them had taken a shower. He then dashed for the bathroom only for Mavis to stick out her leg and trip him, causing him to fall flat on his face. "In your dreams, Na-chan!" she said childishly, stepping over him and promptly going into the bathroom and shutting the door.

"Damn it . . ." Natsu muttered, giving up hope that he'd be able to get into the bathroom before everyone was supposed to be up.

After about half an hour, Mavis stepped out of the bathroom in her usual attire. "It's all yours, Na-chan."

"Thanks . . ." he grumbled playfully before going into the bathroom. Mavis giggled before turning her mind to the task of figuring out what they were going to do next. First off, they needed to search for any other members of Fairy Tail that Mystogan was able to send through the Anima. Next, she decided, they needed to take Mystogan's suggestion about searching for any pieces of Lacrima that may have been severed from the large one that consisted of Magnolia and Fairy Tail. Next, they needed a way to get the large Lacrima through a reverse Anima. Taking the city with them through an Anima would be impossible. Finally, Edolas was due for a change in leadership. They had to overthrow the king and replace him with someone new in order to prevent this from happening again. Then there was also the issue of her and Natsu; she knew she had a small crush on him at this point, but she also knew she couldn't afford to become too attached to him (or anyone else for that matter). If he wasn't strong enough when the time came, Zeref would kill him and the others out of pure frustration alone. Yet at the same time, Mavis was never able to completely close off her feelings; it was an ability that was beyond her at all but the most crucial moments.

"Are you guys ready yet?" called Wendy from the other side of the door, snapping Mavis out of her musing.

"Not yet!" Mavis called back. "Na-chan's taking forever in the shower, as usual!"

"Damn it, I've only been in here for like five minutes!" Natsu yelled in protest. "You're the one who took half an hour!"

"Excuses, excuses . . ." said Mavis loudly enough for both of them to hear.

She heard Wendy giggle and Natsu grumble. After a few minutes, they met the others outside before walking in the general direction of Edo-Natsu's car. As they turned a corner, Wendy bumped into someone, which sent her tumbling to the ground. "O-owie . . . ." groaned Wendy.

"Wendy?!" the woman exclaimed.

"Lucy!" Wendy's face quickly became a smile as she looked up and saw the other woman. She accepted the hand Lucy lent her and stood up. "How did you end up here?"

"I could ask you guys the same thing. And by the way . . . why are there two Natsus? And why is one of them hiding from me?"

Natsu Dragion quaked in fear at the sight of the woman before him, hiding behind Wendy (of all people). "P-please forgive me! I didn't mean to offend you!"

"Um, you didn't. You're fine . . ." Lucy said, sweat dropping anime style.

"Everyone has Edolas counterparts." Mavis stated, gaining Lucy's attention. "Even you do. That's why he's hiding; he thinks you're Edolas's Lucy."

"Y-you mean she's not? Phew . . ." Edo-Natsu said, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Anyway, I didn't think we'd find each other so soon!" Lucy said happily. "Are you guys headed for the Royal City?"

"Yep!" Natsu said, grinning. "My clone over here has a car that can get us there in about six hours."

"Clone . . .?" Edo-Natsu muttered dejectedly, curled up into a little ball of depression.

"I didn't mean it like that . . ." Natsu trailed off, slightly exasperated at his counterpart's reaction.

"You seem awfully cheery about transportation, Natsu," Lucy said, eyeing him suspiciously.

"W-well, that's because . . . hey, we really need to get going if we want to get to the Royal City if we want to make it before evening."

Lucy then saw Mavis looking at Natsu out of the corner of her eye, smirking. "Huh? Is Natsu really okay with transportation now?"

"Aye sir!" yelled Happy. "He and Mavis fell asleep in the back of the car and they were all—" Happy was cut off as Mavis once again batted him to the ground. "I'll avoid it one day . . . ." he muttered confidently, peeling himself from the ground.

A few minutes later, they were rolling across the small dunes of desert-like landscape. Mavis rode in the middle while Natsu and Lucy flanked her left and right sides, respectively. She snuck a glance at Natsu, who was incidentally sneaking a glance at her. Their eyes met for a brief moment before they looked away from each other. Her thoughts then began to amass, a feeling of unease settling in her stomach. She was worried about the Exceed; the reason for her concern was precisely because they were revered as angels and their queen as God. She knew all too well that people mad with power spurned whatever power was above them, most often starting with the notion of God and, if the person had no power, also the church and state. She had seen it happen all too often. A particular memory stood out prominently in her mind; it was during her final battle with Zeref. She asked him what he hoped to gain by committing such horrible crimes, and he stood there laughing like a madman, the blood of countless innocents on his hands, proclaiming that he would become a god and rule over Ishgal and eventually take over the world. She told him that he could never become a god. He regarded her with his cold, ringed red eyes before asserting he would be the only mortal to ever ascend to the throne of Heaven. She called him a fool and told him that he would do nothing more than lead the world to a future devoid of values, worthless to all people, even him, and he charged her in that instant, his teeth bared in hatred, saying that values were merely illusions perpetuated by the weak to protect themselves from the strong. She shook her head in disappointment, asking him what good strength was without something to protect, before clashing with the man. By the end of the battle, Zeref looked at her, blood running over one of his eyes closed eyes, his breathing ragged and his clothes tattered, and he asked her how she became so strong. She simply answered that she had something to value, and he had nothing. That was why he fell to violence, cruelty, and debauchery, she said. He was empty inside, and by indulging his evil desires, he was simply increasing the emptiness exponentially. She moved to defeat him, but he sealed her away, which took away very nearly all of his magic and sapped all of hers for a period of almost 380 years. With the last vestiges of her strength, she handed over leadership of the guild to Precht and resigned herself to centuries dedicated purely to the recovery of her magic. Not too long after Zeref's magic was depleted, his demons fell much more easily, and Crocus was recaptured by the guilds, all of which went on to have a hand in setting up the monarchy in place to that day. It was unanimously decided that the Fiores, a family filled with nobles who treated the people of Ishgal with respect and compassion, should become the new ruling family. Zeref, she guessed, escaped from the guilds and considered her words before glimpsing One Magic by way of contemplating the value of life. It did him no good, however. His magic itself was so twisted and evil that it could never change to accommodate his new outlook on life. Zeref viewed it as the world rejecting him, but she knew better. The world rejected no one. A person's magic manifests itself through his innermost desires. The world did not reject Zeref; Zeref's heart was so twisted by the dark magic that consumed him for so long that it was he who still rejected the world, whether he liked it or not. She knew well, though, that his desire for peace was genuine; she knew this because of the fact that he glimpsed One Magic. One Magic was the purest of all magic; it was pure and utter light. However, even after realizing this, his innermost self still rejected that light. A person's magic was at its greatest point of growth and strength when the person's outer actions mirrored his or her innermost wishes and desires.

Natsu looked out the window, wondering what exactly he felt for the woman beside him. He knew he didn't feel this way about anyone else, but that was about it. It certainly wasn't a bad feeling; he just felt an odd nervousness around her. He could never meet her eyes for a long period of time before said nervousness forced him to avert his gaze. He sighed, wondering just what the hell was up with him . . . .

Lucy felt odd sitting beside the two. She wasn't surprised to see Mavis thinking, but she _was_ surprised to see Natsu looking equally as contemplative. _What's up with Natsu lately? It's like everything I thought I knew about him wasn't necessarily true._

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About six hours later

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Everyone stretched as they got out of the car, clearly glad to be out of the rather cramped space.

"I would take you guys closer, but I already run the risk of being seen from here," Edo-Natsu said.

"This is great!" yelled Natsu. "Thanks for getting us this close!"

Edo-Natsu smiled. Though he certainly couldn't always relate to his Earth Land counterpart, he never failed to find his antics and boisterous attitude amusing. "See you guys later!" Edo-Natsu called as he rode off back to Edolas Fairy Tail's guild.

Mavis looked determinedly at the city, the five others following suit as they stared down at the city of the mad king. "What should we do first?" asked Lucy after a couple of minutes.

Everyone looked to Mavis, who had already begun to formulate a strategy. "I believe the first thing we need to do is find an inn so we have a place to stay for the night," she said, continuing to analyze the layout of the city. "After that, we can come up with a plan. Also . . ." she trailed off, pointing to an island a decent distance above and apart from the Royal City, "look at the tip poking up from the top of that huge island. Is it just my imagination, or is it blue?"

"You're right!" Wendy was astonished at how perceptive the blonde was.

Mavis nodded. "The Lacrima containing Magnolia must be situated on that island. It makes sense that they wouldn't want it in open view of anyone in the city, plus they would need to put something that big on an even bigger platform."

Natsu just stared at the woman. He was constantly amazed by her. Lucy caught Natsu's look and inwardly giggled. _Is Natsu growing up, I wonder?_

As they began the two-mile walk to the gates of the city, Wendy looked up curiously at Mavis. "Mavis-san, what kind of magic do you use?"

Mavis looked down at the little girl, smiling. "Most people's magic manifests itself through the training of mentors. For example, you and Natsu were trained by dragons, and you learned the type of magic taught by those dragons. I was never taught by anyone."

Everyone in the group looked at her in shock. "You taught yourself magic?" asked Carla, flabbergasted.

She nodded. "You could say that, definitely. My magic was guided, though. So was my training, just not by any master."

"What do you mean?" asked Lucy, voicing everyone's confusion.

"I mean that nature guided my training. Nature isn't particularly a master, I suppose, but that's the best way I can explain it. I loved nature and exploring its mysteries, so that's how my magic was formed."

"So what exactly can you do?" inquired Happy, tilting his head.

"It depends," she replied. "As it is now, I can create and manipulate trees. At a much higher level of power, I can manipulate space, have telekinesis, and I can alter gravity to the point that I'm able to fly. When I'm in my most powerful state, which is extremely taxing, I can do all that as well as rearrange atoms."

They all looked at her, completely astonished. "You have more than one type of magic?" asked Natsu. "How is that possible?"

Mavis looked back at him, smirking. "Wouldn't you like to know, little Na-chan?"

"Who the hell are you callin' little?!" Natsu yelled.

"Come now, Na-chan, I'm three years older than you."

"You're _twenty_?!" yelled Carla in shock.

"I am," she said, continuing to smirk at Natsu, who was becoming more flustered and annoyed by the second.

"How have you not aged, Mavis-san?" asked Wendy, honestly curious as to how on Earth Land the woman was still alive.

"I have my secrets," she replied in a slightly childish manner. Seeing the clear curiosity in Natsu's expression, she proceeded to childishly stick her tongue out while looking directly at him.

"What the hell! Why only me?!" he asked, putting his forehead to Mavis's while playfully glaring at her.

"I don't think you should get too much closer," she said slyly.

Natsu's face turned very red as he backed away quickly, sweating profusely anime style. "D-damn it! You know I didn't mean anything like that!"

"_Sure_ you didn't," she mocked, continuing to walk on.

"She gets Natsu really worked up, huh?" whispered Lucy to Wendy.

Wendy giggled. "She really does," she whispered back.

"What are you two whispering about?" Natsu asked, though he already had a pretty good idea.

"Nothing!" the two said in unison.

Natsu grumbled, crossing his arms. Mavis giggled and the group continued its trek to the city, which lay sprawled out before them like a giant maze, the castle in the center towering over the surrounding structures ominously.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I HAVE RETURNED, NOW WITH TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT MORE SLEEP THAN LAST TIME! Anyway, thank you guys for taking the time to read my story and provide support and constructive criticism, and I'd especially like to thank UzuKunoichi for bringing up the issue of immortality with regards to those who support the notion that mind and body are one. If you support this view, please view my response to UzuKunoichi; I hope it helps clarify my thoughts on how they can be reconciled, for it's a subject on which I hope to not have to speak a great deal not because I believe it can't be justified or reconciled, but because this is hardly the place for healthy, consistent philosophical discourse.

Deathwatch 45: Thank you for your continued support! I know that probably sounds generic, but I really do appreciate you reading my story and providing me with encouragement to keep it up :D

treeofsakuras: If I said too much about all that, it'd spoil a lot of the story, unfortunately XD. Let's just say things are going to be a bit different (and harder) for Natsu and the others due to his power boost, and future circumstances aren't always going to be in their favor. Bad things happen sometimes, and I think too many animes always have good things happen a bit too often. I know it's a fantasy world and all, but luck only gets you so far.

NoFocus: Indeed I am. It certainly won't be a cakewalk; trust me on that ^.^.

2: Here it is, sir :D.

Guest (June 3): Thank you! Yes, looking back, it _does_ feel quite rushed, but there were a lot of preliminary events I wanted to clear before really building up to the main plot. I hope I've fixed that with this chapter, though, and I hope you enjoy the character development that occurs with Mavis and Natsu in particular. Thank you for reading my story!

KozaSwordMaster: I appreciate that! Yeah, NatsuxMavis isn't for everyone, but I'm glad you're enjoying the story regardless. A lot of people couldn't; I know from experience XD.

Sam: Thanks! I don't plan on stopping, though it's been a while since I updated. Time rushes by incredibly quickly. When I saw it was the first of July, I had to literally slap myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. It seems so bizarre.

pitfall115: I'm a big fan of NaZa as well. I'm glad you're enjoying the story, and I don't think you're a hipster. Because that would probably make me one too XD. Anyway, if you want to borrow any of the ideas or whatnot from my story, all you have to do is ask ^.^.

Lemonaunene: I know it's been a while, but in the first chapter, I did state that I would have a hectic schedule, and I couldn't promise updates on a regular basis. Still, I'm glad I'm able to get this one out. I haven't decided on a lemon; to be honest, it's something that I would be embarrassed to write and even more embarrassed to publish. I also have to consider the possibility that FanFiction might do a huge sweep of stories containing lemons again. I know of a couple of incredibly good ones that got wiped because of that, and while I'm not so arrogant as to call my story a good one, it's my first one, and I don't want to see it go. Also, I am not criticizing or complaining about FanFiction here; the rules are the rules. The way I see it, if the people at FanFiction are kind enough to allow us to share our stories and keep them up, then they are entitled to at least some demands, especially demands concerning sexual content.

UzuKunoichi: What I meant in saying that Mavis was twenty was that she stopped aging at twenty; in other words, she glimpsed One Magic at the age of twenty. Also, I am neither a materialist nor necessarily a reductivist or physicalist. However, I am not here to debate philosophy, and this view could be reconciled by assuming that though the person's brain has stopped aging, it is still somehow able to make associative pathways and function normally as a brain would, just as the immortal person's body wouldn't age but continue to function normally. If that is still unsatisfactory, disbelief must be suspended, I suppose, and I can understand why the concept of immortality can seem absurd to the physicalist (or reductivist). As regards to her appearance, I don't go into great detail about it (nor anyone else's) because I said at the start that this story would _assume_ that she looks the same as she does in the anime/manga, but I also expressed that the reader may use his or her imagination to make Mavis look as though she is actually twenty in this story, and however that rendition may look is completely up to each individual. And I know what you mean about older women looking really young these days. Then again, the same can be said about girls in their early teens looking like they're in their twenties. That's the twenty-first century thus far in a nutshell, I guess.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, nor am I in any way affiliated with its creation or distribution. I am simply a fan who wishes to present a different take on events than the canon series.

"Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something." – Plato

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Chapter 3

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The six Fairy Tail members sat in small hotel room in the Royal City, the lights of the city casting a dull glow into the room through the closed curtains. A lamp was on, and Mavis was currently calmly reading a book by its light, shifting it slightly about every half minute so she could see the next page. Natsu sat beside her, throwing the woman an occasional glance before returning to his thoughts. Lucy and the rest were napping in various places around the room.

"Natsu," Mavis said calmly, her voice just above a whisper, "is anything wrong? You've been quiet ever since we came inside the city."

Natsu looked away. He didn't want to mention the odd feelings he'd occasionally get around her, but that wasn't what was causing his current distress. He just had a bad feeling in general, a feeling that the future was incredibly bleak. "I don't really know how to describe it. I just have a really bad feeling about all this."

She sat her book in her lap, looking over at him in concern. "I see I'm not the only one with that feeling, then."

Natsu looked up sharply. "So you feel the same way?"

She nodded, her face devoid of its usual smile. "I've felt it ever since we got near the city. It just feels like either something bad is going to happen or that something's off in general."

"Do you have any ideas?" asked Natsu. Normally he wouldn't be concerned if it was just himself feeling this way, but when someone as utterly brilliant as Mavis was having a similar experience, he wanted to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible.

"Maybe . . ." she trailed off, opening the curtains so they could look outside. It was raining, not a light drizzle but also not pouring. "Natsu . . . can we go for a walk?"

His eyes widened slightly. "S-sure. Let's go, Mavis-chan."

She regarded him briefly with a grateful expression before Natsu put his shoes back on. Since Mavis didn't wear any, she simply waited patiently while writing a brief note to the others in case they woke up in their absence.

The two exited the front of the hotel at about two in the morning. They were utterly alone on the street outside, everyone else having already gone to bed. "Are you sure you don't mind walking in the rain like this, Mavis?"

She smiled at her companion. "I'm sure, Natsu."

He nodded and fell into step with her, looking at her curiously. "So, what were you saying before?"

She looked at him, one of her golden locks stuck to her face. "I'm just afraid. I'm worried about the Exceed, Natsu. I'm afraid Faust is going to do something to them."

Natsu nodded. "I know what you mean. I actually have a bad feeling about the city. It seems alright on the surface, but it feels like something's going to happen soon. Like the calm before a storm."

They walked in silence for a moment. Natsu noticed that Mavis was becoming increasingly bothered. Just as he was about to ask her what was wrong, she looked up at him. "Natsu," she said, her voice cracking slightly, "promise me that you'll be okay. No matter what happens, promise me that. Please . . . ."

He stood there for a moment, shocked that she was becoming so emotional suddenly. Becoming serious, he said, "I will. I'll make sure that nothing happens, Mavis. I promise you."

She nodded shakily. "I . . . I just . . . don't want to see anyone important to me die anymore. I know that isn't possible, but . . ." she trailed off.

Natsu hugged her, surprising himself. "Mavis, I don't know what's going to happen, but . . ." he looked into her eyes, "I promise you that I'm not going anywhere. I don't care if I have to go through Hell a thousand times over. I'll always be here as long as you want me to."

She looked up at him, a smile on her face. He could tell she was still in a rather fragile state, but what he said helped, at least a little. "So you're telling me you'll be stubborn 'til the end, Na-chan?"

"You're damn right I will," he replied, smiling.

"Good. I wouldn't expect anything less from you," she said, lightly bonking him on the head. "Now, let's enjoy the rest of the walk, Na-chan."

"Damn it! Stop callin' me that, would ya?!" he yelled.

"Oh? Is wittle Na-chan upset now?"

"You're shorter than I am!"

"So you don't deny you're short?"

"Wha—? No!"

"Now now, Na-chan, no need to be embarrassed about it. Plus . . ." she trailed off, suddenly taking his scarf, "I think I need to hold onto this. You need some time to calm down."

"H-hey! Give that back!"

She ran up the street laughing like a manic, Natsu not far behind her as he repeatedly cursed himself for letting her take his scarf. After a few minutes, Mavis slowed down just enough to let Natsu think he was going to be able to lunge and grab her. He did just that, and she dodged him easily, resulting in him lying face-down on the ground. He groaned as he turned over, his eyes meeting green ones not far above his own. "Looks like I win again, Na-chan," she said smugly.

"Fine," he grumbled.

She smirked at his admittance of defeat before tossing his scarf on his face, which only served to infuriate him further. The walk back to the room was filled with banter between the two, mostly with Natsu talking about how he would beat her in one of their little contests one day and her retorting that it could not possibly happen. After about ten minutes of this, Natsu suddenly looked around.

". . . Mavis-chan?"

"Yes, Natsu-kun?"

"Where the hell are we?"

"I have absolutely no idea."

"Oh . . . ."

"Yeah . . . ."

The two looked around them, their setting completely unfamiliar. "I could've sworn we came back the same way," Natsu commented, baffled.

"I thought so too. This is definitely odd . . . . Is that what I think it is?"

Natsu looked first to Mavis, who appeared to have stars in her eyes, and subsequently followed her line of sight, which led directly to a candy shop across the street. He saw her continually stare. He worriedly moved his hand in front of her face, but to no avail. She was simply staring at the wide variety of odd candies Edolas had. He had been subjected to Mavis's sweet tooth (which was a beast to tame in its own right), but she knew what she wanted at the time. Now, however, Natsu could tell that he was probably going to be waiting around a while for Mavis to try multitudes of new substances.

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Three and a half hours later

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An extremely tired Natsu walked out of the shop behind Mavis, who was, in turn, gnawing on a piece of what looked to be jerky in utter bliss. The first two hours had been purely dedicated to her tasting many different types of candy, the next hour to her deciding which ones were her favorite flavors out of them all, and the last half-hour to determining which ones she should buy. Natsu noticed her extreme attention to detail as well. She would systematically order the candies she liked and didn't like in rigid hierarchies, almost as if she was making some sort of candy government. Upon him asking, she would point out which flavors she didn't like and why, going into incredibly extreme detail about the tastes and textures of each one, some of her descriptions of single pieces of candy lasting nearly ten minutes (with intermittent trials of new candy thrown in, of course).

"Mavis?"

She looked over at him. "Hm?"

"We still don't know where the room is."

She shrugged, unbothered, before going back to enjoying her candy-jerky that was nearly finished. After a couple of minutes, the candy was gone, and she responded properly to him. "I was thinking about the turns we took more carefully in the store. We didn't walk far enough when we made the first right, I think."

Upon backtracking, Natsu quickly discovered that she was correct, and after about four hours of being out, the two were finally back outside the room. Upon opening the door, they saw that all the other Fairy Tail members save Lucy were still asleep. "Where were you two?" asked Lucy, who had clearly woken up only a few minutes ago, if her slightly slurred speech and still-dull eyes were any indication.

"We were in a candy shop for three and a half hours," said Natsu, casting a superior glance over at Mavis. There was no way she could pin this one on him.

"That was only because you wanted to go in and try out all the candy. So immature, Na-chan." Never mind. She could.

"You wanted to, not me!"

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about," she said, throwing her hands up by her sides as if she was exasperated. "You're so confusing sometimes, Na-chan."

He grumbled, crossing his arms and huffing. Mavis inwardly giggled as Natsu pouted much like a child who didn't get his way.

Lucy smiled tiredly before turning over on her spot on the couch. "You two should get some sleep. We need to be up in a few hours."

Natsu's head hung in depression at the thought of getting so little sleep while Mavis pulled yet another piece of candy from one of the many surprisingly well-hidden pockets in her clothing and popped it in her mouth, looking completely unperturbed about the prospect of waking up so early. That was something else Natsu had noticed about the woman: She needed very little sleep to function normally. There were nights during their trip to Lorshire and back when she would only get two hours of sleep, if that. The two settled back in their previous seats. Natsu could tell Mavis wanted to talk to him about something, but not until Lucy was asleep again, so he remained awake.

Once Lucy's breathing evened out, she looked at Natsu, impressed that he'd noticed she wanted to talk without having to say a word. "Natsu, we need to get out of the city in the morning. I'm sure you feel it too . . . something's coming."

He nodded tiredly. "I know. I just wonder why they don't feel it . . ." he trailed off, looking at his sleeping companions.

Mavis shrugged. "I guess we're just more attentive, Na-chan." He shot her a tired, playful glare for his nickname, to which Mavis responded by giggling. Her eyes then softened and she said sincerely, "Seriously, thank you for walking with me and staying in that candy store for so long. I know I can be trying sometimes when it comes to things like that."

He grinned, rubbing the back of his head. "I honestly didn't mind at all. I enjoyed just getting to hang out."

She stared at him for a while longer, causing him to begin fidgeting with a coaster on the table. "You're a great guy, Natsu-kun," she said sincerely, causing his gaze to turn to hers. "Now," she smirked, "get some sleep if you don't want to be a zombie in the morning . . . . Well, more of a zombie than usual anyway."

He smiled, leaning back on the couch. "Do you mind if I sleep here?"

"Of course not," she said, returning to her reading. "I think you'd have a bit of trouble using the bed since Wendy, Carla, and Happy are all piled in there, not to mention the fact that Lucy is taking up the entire other couch."

He briefly rubbed the back of his head. "Good point," he said before settling into a somewhat comfortable position and drifting off to sleep about five minutes later, Mavis following his lead after about half an hour.

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The next morning (about two and a half hours later)

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After eating breakfast, all the Fairy Tail members walked out of the hotel and into the dull glow of the morning, the sky still a bit overcast from the night before with some of Edolas's peculiar green-tinted sky showing through the clouds. Mavis had told them all of her plan to temporarily leave the city, though she refused to give a reason for doing so. Upon turning a corner about a quarter of a mile up the rather crowded street, they ran into Gajeel.

"What the hell . . .? What are you guys doing here?" he asked, clearly bewildered.

"We could ask you the same thing, you iron-faced bastard!" yelled Natsu (who else?).

"What the hell did you just call me, ya fiery-assed bastard?" asked Gajeel, his forehead connecting with Natsu's.

Seeing that Mavis was simply watching the escalating confrontation with amusement, Lucy cleared her throat. "Um, Gajeel, where were you headed before we ran into you?"

"Huh? Oh, right . . . . I heard they were going to be showing off a piece of the giant Lacrima in the city, so I was going to free everybody in there. With any luck, it's some guild members that can be of use."

Mavis nodded. "Would you like to lead the way, Gajeel-san?"

Gajeel just grunted, the rest of the group falling in formation behind him as they walked towards the Lacrima fragment, hoping against hope that they'd managed to break off some of Fairy Tail's more powerful guild members.

In just under half an hour, the seven guild members were amid a large crowd, which was full of awe and excitement, ignorant of the fact that living being composed the Lacrima. They gazed in wonder at the rather large fragment before Mavis nodded to Gajeel, who signaled his Edolas counterpart (who was dressed as a soldier) to begin his distraction of the crowd and guards. By telling the guards that there was an emergency on the other side of the city, he was able to cut the number of guards in half as well as delay the showcasing of the Lacrima, which made the crowd clear out fairy quickly. Figuring that that was the best chance they were going to get, Gajeel quickly turned his arm into a metal pole and subsequently shattered the Lacrima to pieces. After a couple of moments, the shattered pieces reformed into Gray and Erza, both of whom looked around, confused.

"He's an intruder! Get him!" yelled the first guard to recover from the initial shock as he charged at Gajeel, his spear outstretched.

Natsu was about to fight as well before Mavis held her arm horizontally in front of him. She briefly closed her eyes before tress began to grow around them, one of which picked the entire group, Gray and Erza included, and took them all to a decent height before it grew rapidly towards the nearest exit of the city, wind tearing through their hair as it did. Below them, gasps of shock could be heard, but it was as though they heard a collective gasp because of how quickly they were moving. In less than a minute, the Fairy Tail members were deposited at the southern entrance to the city and ran away from it with haste. Natsu looked behind them, noticing that the tree Mavis had created was already completely gone.

After getting a respectable distance from the city, Gray finally spoke, panting. "Would anyone like to tell me what the hell is going on right now?"

"I am curious as well," said Erza, only a little out of breath.

Mavis then gave them a brief overview of all that had happened up to that point. "Damn it," cursed Gray through gritted teeth, "this is messed up. What're we gonna do now?"

"The army is going to be looking for us," Mavis stated, "so I think it'd be a wise decision to hide in the forest nearby for a bit. We still don't know how much time we have before they extract the magic power from the Lacrima, though."

"Actually . . ." all the present members turned their attention to Gajeel, "we have two more days before they do anything to the Lacrima. My Edolas counterpart has a lot of inside information."

"Thank you, Gajeel-san," Mavis said, her chin in her hand in concentration. "That information is invaluable. For now, let's hurry and get out of sight of the city. After that, we can make a plan."

Everyone else nodded, and as they ran towards the tree line, Gajeel tossed Erza and Gray X-Balls. Gajeel responded to their questioning glances: "They're from Mystogan. They let you use magic in Edolas."

They promptly ate the X-Balls. Gray almost immediately perked up, smirking. "No wonder I was feeling so down."

Erza nodded in agreement as they broke into the forest, slightly different shades of purple leaves surrounding them. After a few minutes of running through decently thick brush, they found a clearing. Everyone sat down and collectively sighed in relief.

"I don't think we were seen, but there's no way to tell for sure," Mavis said from her spot on the ground, which was incidentally rather close to Natsu's. "This is going to shake things up a lot. I wanted to avoid using my tree magic to travel because it leaves such an obvious trail, but it couldn't be helped."

Erza nodded her agreement. "You took the best possible action in that situation, Shodaime-sama."

"Please, call me Mavis," she said, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

Erza smiled. "Force of habit. I apologize." She then took a look around them. "What exactly are we going to do from now on? The only strategy I see available is directly attacking the castle since we have so little time."

Mavis gave her a look of approval before speaking. "Yes, I agree with that assessment. The very best way to go about this would be a frontal assault, but we need to ensure that we take the king as quickly as possible. The best way to do that is to take out his officers, but if possible, we should refrain from raising any alarms before getting to the king. And Erza . . ." Erza gazed at the Fairy Tactician, "your Edolas counterpart is one of them."

Erza's eyes widened. "Me?"

Mavis shook her head in confirmation. "I strongly suspect that she will be the toughest out of all of our enemies, provided the king doesn't have someone—or some_thing_—else up his sleeve to use against us."

Erza steeled herself before resolutely saying, "I will defeat her and rescue everyone. I don't care if I have to beat my Edolas self a hundred times over; if that's what it takes, I will do it."

Mavis smiled. "You're always very dependable, Erza, and you love your comrades. Never change."

Erza blushed from the compliments, deeply honored that the woman saw so much in her. "A-arigatou."

The eight guild members then waited for a couple of hours, chatting intermittently but also constantly on the lookout for any signs of soldiers from the Royal City. When they were convinced that none would come, they all breathed a sigh of relief. Mavis determined that they had about ten hours of daytime left; it was just past ten in the morning.

"Alright," Mavis said, instantly gaining everyone's attention, "we need to make teams to scout out supplies; we also need a team to keep watch. I believe splitting into teams of two would be most effective." At this there was a collective nod. "Na-chan and I will hunt for food; Gray, you and Erza go get some water. Wendy, you and Gajeel should get firewood. Happy, you and Carla can be on watch. Since you two have wings, you'd be the most efficient in terms of being able to quickly see any approaching enemies and warning us of them."

Everyone headed out in different directions. In truth, Mavis wanted to talk to Natsu; in particular, she wanted to tell him a little about her past. Old memories had been plaguing her recently. "What'd you wanna talk about?" asked Natsu, looking over at her.

She smiled. _He just knows somehow._ "I actually wanted to share a story from the past with you . . . if you want to hear it, of course."

This immediately piqued Natsu's interest. He knew very little of her past; in fact, he really only knew about as much as everyone else in the guild (with the exception of Makarov, of course). "Definitely. What is it?"

She smiled, looking ahead of her. "Not even Macky knows parts of this one."

He shot her a surprised look. "Seriously?"

She nodded, briefly closing her eyes before reopening them. He noticed that they held a tint of sadness. "It was over four hundred years ago. When I was still young, Zeref and I were friends," his eyes widened greatly. "He was eight, and I was seven. We had been friends for just two years before he began to study dark magic. He was, unfortunately, a prodigy of unprecedented magnitude. He possessed an incredible affinity for magic the likes of which only I matched. I stopped being friends with him after I came to learn of the horrible things he did to people." At this, she shuddered. "He would maim entire villages for his own amusement. I remember hearing one day that all the villages around ours were completely empty. When he realized he could no longer sadistically torture people without hurting anyone in our village, he moved away and never looked back. I don't think our friendship ever meant that much to him, really. I think he saw in me a potential for an accomplice, but once he figured out that I wasn't going to fall to the darkness, he let me be. Looking back now, everyone in that village was lucky he didn't decide to use them as toys. I'm fairly certain none of them knew Zeref was behind the disappearances until long after he moved away. Anyway, a few years later, I met the man who is now one of the Four Gods of Ishgal and also the man who would have a great hand in helping set up Fairy Tail, Warrod Cken. We traveled together and did jobs for well over three years before we met Precht, the second guild master of Fairy Tail. Just a few months later, we met up with Lucy's great-great-great grandfather, Jun Heartfilia, and Fairy Tail was started after that."

Natsu was amazed. "You and Zeref were from the same village . . . and you met Lucy's great-great-great grandpa . . . ." She unexpectedly heard giggling. When she looked over, she was greeted with Natsu trying to suppress a big, stupid-looking grin.

"What is it _now_?" she asked, wondering what on Earth Land could have made him giggle like a prepubescent girl.

"I just see a really old version of Lucy," he said. Shortly after he got done speaking, he roared with laughter.

Mavis looked over at him, highly amused. "You have an odd sense of humor, Natsu-kun."

"I-I'm sorry. It's just so funny," he said, gripping his sides. After he calmed down a bit, he smiled. "Thanks for telling me about that."

She smiled at her companion. "It's just something that's been on my mind recently."

Natsu looked over at her, this time with a serious expression on his face. "Why did you look sad before you started telling me, though?"

Surprise registered briefly on her face. _He caught that?_ "I was just mourning all the losses of life Zeref caused."

"Do you wish anything had turned out differently?" asked Natsu, looking at her curiously.

She nodded. "I wish Zeref had turned out differently. That would have changed everything. No one would have died . . . ."

"Is there anything you would change about what you did?"

She looked contemplative for a moment. "Yes. I would have somehow gotten stronger more quickly and stopped Zeref before he could kill any of my friends."

Natsu noticed that she was beginning to break into tears. He rushed over to her and hugged her. She hugged him back, gently wrapping her arms around him. "I shouldn't have asked so much . . . . I'm sorry."

"No," she said, her voice cracking slightly, "it isn't your fault. None of what happened back then was your fault. That was all Zeref's doing. I'm just . . . afraid."

She felt Natsu shaking. Slightly alarmed, she backed away from him. She saw that he had an incredibly pissed-off expression on his face, and his fists were clenched. "That bastard . . . . Mark my words, if I ever see him, I'll make him pay for what he put you through."

"Natsu . . . you . . ." Mavis trailed off, her eyes widened slightly. Natsu was nearly using Dragon Force simply from her being sad. She then threw her arms around him. "Natsu, you need to calm down for now, okay? Zeref's nowhere around here, and we don't need the others to come running here for nothing."

He calmed down after a couple of minutes. "I'm not going anywhere."

"What?" she asked, looking up at him curiously.

"I'm not going anywhere, Mavis-chan. I don't give a damn if Zeref sends a million demons at me. I'm not going to give up until that bastard pays for what he's done, and I'm going to be by your side as long as you want me to be. I won't die. I'll protect you and all my nakama, I swear!"

She looked at the man, seeing the sincerity in his eyes. She could do nothing but stare for a moment before she smiled, looking away. "I know you will, Natsu-kun," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, but she knew that Natsu's incredibly sensitive ears picked it up.

They stood there like that for a moment, each just enjoying the other's presence, before Natsu rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "We should probably find something to eat."

"Yup! Hurry up, Na-chan."

"Wh-what the hell?! You're going to help, right?"

"I never said that."

"We're on a team!"

"I don't care. I just wanted to talk. Besides," she said, taunting him and smirking, "are you telling me a mighty Dragon Slayer can't even do as simple a task as gathering food?"

"Damn it! Say that again, I dare you!"

The two bickered for five more minutes before Natsu finally grumbled in defeat and looked for an animal of some sort. Mavis giggled at yet another one of her victories. She briefly stared at Natsu's back before leaning against a tree, lost in her thoughts.

Natsu kicked aside yet another fallen limb as he made his way through the forest. He was still royally pissed off about Zeref. _Just who the hell does that bastard think he is? Mavis nearly started crying just from remembering some of the things he did._ He leaned against a tree, the cool, wet bark against his neck helping to calm him down somewhat. He looked at the sky. The sun was just barely peeking through the clouds. He then pushed himself off the tree and started looking around for food in a much calmer state of mind. His thoughts then turned to the woman to whom he was speaking just a few minutes prior. _What the hell is going on with me lately? Yeah, I get pissed when people mess with my friends, but this was totally different. I've never hated someone enough to kill him, but the look on her face . . . . I would've killed Zeref. But Fairy Tail wizards don't do that kind of thing. Our honor revolves around showing our opponents mercy. So why? Why do I feel this way?_ In fact, the more he thought about Mavis, the tighter his stomach coiled into a knot. The image of her with her hair stuck to her face from the rain suddenly popped into his mind, and his heartbeat sped up. His breathing also became a bit shallower. _Wh-what the hell? Seriously, is something wrong with me?_ After only a minute of hunting, Natsu once again felt his back against the bark of a tree. He slid down, his head in his hands. This time, it took him nearly ten minutes to clear his head. _I'll just not think about that for a while,_ he decided. He then noticed a large animal's head sticking up just above the tops of the trees. He smirked. _I see dinner._

Mavis looked around her, vaguely aware of her surroundings. How long had it been since she was in a state like this? It was certainly an odd one for most people. It was a state of mind close to that of the achievement of One Magic. The world and everything in it seemed simultaneous, undifferentiated, beautiful. She had been in this state of mind only a few times, but it left her nearly oblivious to the outside world. She went into it once before attaining the power provided by One Magic, and this state of mind was difficult to overcome. What seemed like hours in it might actually be only minutes. She soon recovered, however, slowly becoming more alert of her surroundings. She took her back away from the bark, wondering what was taking Natsu so long. A few seconds later, though, she heard a large amount of scrubbing. She raised an eyebrow, looking around her quickly. Thousands of scenarios flew through her mind as she tried to spot soldiers from Edolas's royal army. Instead, she saw Natsu come through the tree line dragging a huge animal behind him. He grinned broadly. "Do you think this'll be enough for everyone?"

She smirked. "No. Go get more."

"No way in Hell!"

"Fine," she said playfully, sticking her tongue out at him.

By the time the two made it back to camp, everyone was already back. Everyone looked at Natsu expectantly; a large bowl full of water sat over a small fire pit, and a long stick was placed over firewood. Natsu quickly got the idea and lit both of the flames. Erza nodded before slicing the meat of the beast Natsu had slain and putting it on the stick, ensuring that the meat would be well-cooked and that the water would be as free of germs as they could get it.

"What took you guys so long?" asked Gray, one of his eyebrows raised.

"Na-chan took forever as usual."

Natsu huffed and looked away. Mavis smirked while Erza and Gray looked at each other before looking back to Natsu and Mavis. Out of all the Fairy Tail members present, they had been exposed to Natsu and Mavis's behavior the least.

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Half an hour later

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After everyone had eaten, Mavis stood up to address the other members and lay out a plan to take the castle. "Alright everyone, please listen. There are many unknown variables in this scenario, but I have come up with a basic plan of attack; however, we will need to wait until nightfall." She held up her hand to prevent any protests. "I am very well aware of how risky a move that is, but it's our best chance to get into the city undetected. Not only that, but they are likely to send out scouting troops at night in hopes of catching us off guard. It's likely that we will still be at a disadvantage due to the fact that they knew which way we went when we left, but we left through the Royal City's southern gate, and this forest covers every direction except the one from which we originally approached: the west. We cannot afford to go that way, of course, but they will be fully expecting us to approach from the south if we haven't begun our siege of the castle by nightfall, so most of the scouts will be headed this way, and to be safe, they will probably increase their defenses on the eastern wall and, if they can afford the men, may even send a few scouting parties out there as well. The least likely place they'll be expecting us to approach from would be the north, both due to its distance from our current position and how thin it is compared to this part of the forest. So, this is the plan: We will infiltrate the city from the north gate. After slipping past the defenses, we will attempt to get to the king and take him hostage. If this last phase can be accomplished, Edolas and its resources belong to us, and we can find the machine that's been creating the Anima in Earth Land and throw it in reverse, which will return Magnolia and Fairy Tail to their rightful places in Earth Land. The last phase of this plan has less than a half of a percent chance to go off without a hitch. In that case, we do Fairy Tail does best."

"What?" Lucy asked.

"If you would, Na-chan."

Natsu grinned draconically, the air around him heating up, one hand clasped around his fist. "We hit the blow-shit-up button."

The rest of the members smirked, knowing how true the statement was, before Erza said, "Shodai- I mean, uh, Mavis, I think your plan is brilliant, but . . . there's no way we can walk to the northern part of the forest by nightfall. We'd need at least the rest of the day and half the morning tomorrow."

Mavis smirked mischievously. "That would be true if we had to walk around the entire way, Erza. However, I believe you're forgetting something . . . ."

The knight's eyes widened. "That's right! The tree. But Mavis, that'll surely put a strain on your magic. It'll take at least ten minutes to reach the other edge of the forest, even if it's at the speed you used before."

She smiled. "I'll be alright. Besides, it's the only way."

She felt a hand on her shoulder. She and everyone else looked to Natsu in surprise. "Are you sure you'll be okay, Mavis-chan?" he asked softly, the concern in his tone clear as day.

She looked up at him, her voice considerably softer than it had been earlier. _He's worried about me . . . . How long has it been since anyone has done that?_ "I'll be okay, Natsu-kun. Don't worry about me; I'm sure I'll have recovered all my magic by nighttime." He nodded, removing his hand. Before she started making the tree that would take them to the northern part of the forest, he could have sworn he heard her whisper, "Thank you."

Less than a minute later, they were snaking through trees atop a huge, serpentine trunk. Natsu didn't feel sick at all; he didn't view this as transportation. Instead, he simply viewed it as Mavis's magic at work. Gajeel wasn't so lucky, however, as his face had paled and he had begun to sweat, his stomach churning slightly. Wendy was the first to notice this. "Um, Gajeel, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah . . ." he said, shaking his head. "Musta been somethin' I ate this morning."

"No, it wasn't," Mavis said, gaining everyone's attention. "It's because your Dragon Slayer powers are becoming more potent. All Dragon Slayers eventually get motion sickness."

Wendy paled. "S-so that means . . .?"

Mavis nodded and said in a cheery voice, "Yup!"

"Wait a minute," Lucy said, turning her head to look at Natsu. "What about Natsu? He's had motion sickness for as long as I can remember. Why is Gajeel just now developing it while Natsu's had it for so long?"

Erza chipped in, "I wish to know the reason for this as well. There has never been a time when Natsu hasn't had violent motion sickness, even when we were younger, and he was half Wendy's age then."

Mavis raised a brow, though the only one who could see this was Natsu due to the fact that he was sitting right next to her at the front of the speeding branch. "You mean you all have really never noticed?" All of their faces bore confusion, even Natsu's, and she didn't have to look around to see that. The need for further explanation became apparent, and she continued. "Natsu's Dragon Slayer powers have always been incredibly potent. He may not be as strong as the Dragon Slayers from my time just yet, but he has a ridiculous amount of potential, perhaps more than any other that has ever existed."

The silence was enough to tell her of everyone's shock. Natsu looked at her briefly before looking away, and she knew exactly how he felt. Natsu could be a huge knucklehead, but what he never did was boast of his accomplishments or his power (except in playful situations). She'd had her potential and power praised before, and it looked like Natsu was much the same as her in that they both found being praised rather embarrassing and needless. After a few minutes of silence, everyone started talking again, and Natsu and Gray nearly got into a brawl before Erza gave them a look that was sweet on the surface but promised immeasurable pain if they didn't stop arguing. Gray and Natsu then threw an arm around each other's shoulders and pretended to get along while Erza smirked at her victory. Wendy just laughed while Carla huffed and looked away.

They reached the northern part of the forest a few minutes later, and as soon as Mavis stopped the tree trunk, she half-walked, half-stumbled over to the nearest tree and rested her back against it, the perspiration on her face clear. She slid down the trunk and slightly hung her head, her eyes a little dimmer than usual due to tiredness. The other Fairy Tail members stood in silent appreciation of the woman while Natsu walked over to her. Everyone else then went about setting up a makeshift camp.

"You didn't push yourself too hard, did you?" ask Natsu worriedly. "Are you okay?"

She smiled, "My magic will be recovered by nightfall, Natsu-kun."

She was then surprised when he put a hand on her shoulder, kneeling down so that he could look her directly in the eyes. "Mavis-chan," he said softly, his tone of voice making her gasp slightly, "I'm not worried about whether your magic will be back by night. I'm worried about _you_."

She felt the air rush out of her lungs. What she really wanted to know was what he was concerned about, what his focus was. That was why she dodged his question. She wanted to know what really mattered to him: her as a person or her magic and abilities. She knew Natsu was a lover of people, but it too often came to pass that people admired her abilities, not her as a person. But Natsu . . . really cared about _her_. He was surprised when her small hand grasped his shoulder and pulled him into a fierce embrace, her head resting gently on his shoulder. "Yes, Natsu, I'm okay. And thank you so much . . . for everything."

"Mavis, I would do anything for you."

"Oh?" Her eyes shined with mischief, and her voice reflected it. "Would you now, Na-chan?"

"U-um . . . yes . . ." Natsu uttered out, scared of what she was going to say next.

"Get me some water."

He laughed, breaking the embrace. As he did, he saw her eyes had regained their usual brightness. "No problem."

She watched as he walked away before looking turning her head slightly away, a small smile on her face.


End file.
